Species-specific behavior of various airborne respiratory viruses under an electrostatic field

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the urgent need for rapid on-site detection of airborne viruses, which requires efficient virus aerosol sampling. Electrostatic samplers have high potential for airborne virus monitoring due to their high enrichment capability, high collection efficiency, and minimal mechanical stress on viral particles. However, these samplers have not been well characterized across diverse virus species, especially when applied to complex field samples. Herein, we evaluated the on-site quantification of three airborne respiratory viruses in both laboratory and field settings using an electrostatic viral aerosol concentrator and paper-based electrochemical immunosensors. These viruses include human adenovirus type 3 (HAdV-3; dsDNA, non-enveloped, 70-100 nm diameter), respiratory syncytial virus A (RSV-A; ssRNA, enveloped, 120-300 nm diameter), and influenza A virus H1N1 (IAV-H1N1; ssRNA, enveloped, 80-120 nm diameter). The sensor measurements took 30 min. The limits of detection for these airborne viruses were ∼10² copies/m³ of air for IAV-H1N1 and HAdV-3 and ∼10⁴ copies/m³ of air for RSV-A, which are sufficiently sensitive for conventional indoor airborne virus monitoring. Notably, multi-analytical evaluation via immunosensing, RT-qPCR, and transmission electron microscopy in the laboratory tests revealed that both the intrinsic collection efficiency and structural/genomic stability of viruses under electrostatic fields depended on the virus species. These species-specific differences might be due to the characteristics of virus species (non-enveloped/enveloped, DNA/RNA, and/or virus size). This study addresses the critical lack of comparative analysis among different airborne virus species, providing essential insights for developing robust, field-deployable surveillance strategies for infectious disease outbreaks.