Influenza A viruses are the only influenza viruses known to cause flu disease, a contagious respiratory illness that infects people and spreads efficiently. With 6,400,000 – 11,000,000 Americans sick this year alone, flu can be considered a major epidemic that compromises the public's health and well-being.
Every day, about 55 million students and 7 million staff attend more than 130,000 public and private schools in the United States. Their environment can quickly become highly contagious, cause illnesses among students and staff, and significantly increase school absences.
The virus is the primary cause of seasonal flu, projected to affect 6,400,000 – 11,000,000 Americans in 2021-2022.
Flu is considered a major epidemic linked to a wide array of illnesses that may affect school attendance, worker absenteeism, and daily productivity. With this in mind, Aura Air has released new test results from a trial held by Innovative Bioanalysis Laboratory in California, demonstrating the system's effectiveness in eliminating 99.998% of Influenza A.
In order to simulate real-life indoor spaces, testing took place in a sealed 10'x8'x8' chamber, which is around half the size of a classroom. According to the results, Aura Air devices successfully removed 99.998% of Influenza A within 60 minutes, with a significant impact of 63.69% in the first 15 minutes and 79.4% after 30 minutes.
Study Objective
Aura Air supplied a smart air device designed to be mounted on the ceiling or wall in a room to decrease the concentration of pathogens and particulates in the air of an occupied space. This study evaluated the Aura Air unit's effectiveness in its ability to reduce aerosolized Influenza A.Test ConditionsThe test was conducted in a 10'x8'x8' chamber following BSL-3 standards. The temperature during testing was approximately 68 ±2F, with a relative humidity of 30%. A 2.47 x 107 CEID50/mL concentration of Influenza A viral suspension media was nebulized into the room with mixing fans before collection. Air sample collections occurred at 0, 15, 30, and 60 minutes of device operation.
Test Results
The experiment displayed an accelerated reduction in viral concentration than the natural viability loss observed in the controls. After 30 minutes of operation, 5.17 x 106 CEID50/mL of active Influenza A was recovered in the air. The device reduced active Influenza A concentrations to 4.80 x 102 CEID50/mL after 60 minutes.
Control Results
The results were plotted to show the amount of active Influenza A collected with and without the Aura Air operating for 60 minutes. The control displayed a gradual viability loss over time, while the Aura Air displayed a more rapid reduction. Against aerosolized Influenza A, an initial concentration of 2.47 x 107 CEID50/mL decreased to 8.95 x 106 CEID50/mL after 15 minutes of exposure. More prolonged exposure resulted in a more significant reduction in collectible, active Influenza A virus, as shown by the 5.17 x 106 CEID50/mL collected at 30 minutes and 4.80 x 102 CEID50/mL after 60 minutes.
Conclusion
The wall-mounted Aura Air device demonstrated a significant reduction of aerosolized Influenza A virus in a controlled environment. At 15 minutes of operation, a 63.69% gross reduction of active Influenza A was observed. and a 99.998% gross reduction after 60 minutes of operation.
When aerosolizing pathogens and collecting said pathogens, some variables cannot be fully accounted for, namely, placement of pathogen, collection volume, collection points, drop rate, surface saturation, virus destruction on the collection, virus destruction on aerosolization, and possibly others. Every effort was made to address these constraints with the design and execution of the trials. And these efforts are reflected in the meaningful recovery of the virus in the control test.
Considering the variables, the Aura Air device achieved a measurable amount of reduction at each time point (T-15, T-30, and T-60), demonstrating the device efficiently reduced Influenza A from the air samples collected under controlled conditions.
