The Coriolis µ air samplers, from Bertin Technologies, has been extensively used by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of Shenzhen and Guangzhou, as well as the South China Institute of Environmental Sciences to collect coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 responsible for COVID-19 and clearly evaluate the risk of aerosol contamination in critical areas. It is also currently in use in Europe to collect the virus in hospitals environment.
Early warning, detection, or identification of air contamination is crucial to combat a disease spread. Many diseases caused by biological agents are highly contagious, and during this time lag, infected people continue to spread the disease, increasing its reach. Additionally, difficulties in detecting biological agents is a major issue for homeland security. That is why Bertin Technologies developed a range of air samplers to collect all types of micro-organisms in the air for the control of airborne contamination.
Within this range, Coriolis µ has been chosen in China to help detect & collect the coronavirus in public places such as metro station. The Coriolis µ is a portable, light bio-air sampler for biological agents’ detection. Based on a cyclonic technology, combined with a high airflow rate, Coriolis µ offers an efficient particles collection in 10 minutes, adapted to such an epidemic situation. Biological particles such as toxins, viruses, bacteria, molds, pollens and spores are collected and concentrated in a liquid ready to be analysed with microbiological, cellular and molecular biology methods.
The Coriolis µ air sampler has been already used in French hospitals for monitoring winter epidemics of bronchiolitis & gastro-enteritis. It has been shown that the Coriolis µ air sampler coupled with PCR detection method is able to detect virus in patient narrow environment and thus prevent from epidemic dissemination. The Coriolis µ can be used for:
- The contaminated areas monitoring
- The safety control of an area after decontamination
- The risk levels mapping of different environments.
“Easy-to-use, Coriolis µ is already widely used by researchers in the field of air bio-contamination, as well as for targeted research of specific pathogens. It is particularly suitable for genetic analyzes such as PCR because the sample collected is directly compatible with the nucleic acid extraction kits (first step of the PCR analysis process),” states Karine Bizet, Analytical Biology and Bio-defense Expert at Bertin Technologies.
>> Watch the video presentation of the Coriolis µ Air Sampler
