# Occupational Inhalation Exposure to Infectious Respiratory Virus Aerosols in Medical Facilities

> **NIH ALLCDC R21** · UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA · 2022 · $211,792

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Accurate assessment of healthcare workers’ personal exposure to airborne pathogenic viruses
is hampered by existing bioaerosol samplers, which are either inefficient in sampling infectious
airborne viruses and maintaining their viability, or not suitable for personal sampling. The goal of
this proposed work is to more accurately assess personal exposure resulting from different
transmission modes of airborne infectious viruses. This will be accomplished by empowering the
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) bioaerosol sampler to be the
personal sampler of choice so that it can efficiently collect airborne virus-containing particles by
their particle size and maintain their viability information for exposure risk assessment.
The two specific aims of this proposal are to: (1) Calibrate the NIOSH sampler against the gold-
standard reference of Viable Virus Aerosol Sampler (VIVAS). The VIVAS is highly efficient in
collecting viable airborne viruses, but too large and heavy for personal sampling. The calibration
will be conducted using lab-generated respiratory virus aerosols to obtain correction factors for
determining viable virus aerosol concentrations using the NIOSH sampler. (2) Evaluate personal
exposures of healthcare workers to airborne viruses using the calibrated NIOSH sampler. Field
tests of co-located NIOSH sampler and the VIVAS at a student health care center (SHCC) will
corroborate the lab-generated correction factors in a real-world environment. Sampling will then
be conducted using the calibrated NIOSH sampler to assess the personal exposures of the
receptionist, healthcare providers, and medical assistants at the SHCC during flu season.
Results of the size-fractionated virus-containing particles collected by different stages of the
NIOSH sampler will bring to light the relative importance of the different transmission modes of
airborne viruses. Paired comparisons of the personal vs. stationary samplings will reveal if
stationary sampling can substitute for personal sampling. Knowledge learned from the proposed
study will allow setting of administrative polices and engineering control that better protect
healthcare workers from undesired exposure to airborne infectious viruses. This proposal
responds to two goals set by NIOSH’s Strategic Plans for FY 2019-23 that best represent the
health and safety issues facing the U.S. workforce: Goal 3 - reduce occupational infectious
disease, and Goal 5 - reduce occupational respiratory disease. Specifically, Goal 3.3 - infectious
disease transmission, and Activity Goal 3.3.1 - conduct basic/ etiologic research to better
understand influenza aerobiology and transmission in healthcare settings.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10472402
- **Project number:** 5R21OH012114-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
- **Principal Investigator:** JOHN A LEDNICKY
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** ALLCDC
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $211,792
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-09-01 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10472402

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10472402, Occupational Inhalation Exposure to Infectious Respiratory Virus Aerosols in Medical Facilities (5R21OH012114-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10472402. Licensed CC0.

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