tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
PLOS Glob Public Health
. 2026 Sep 9;6(9):e0006810.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0006810. eCollection 2026.
Dawn Gratalo 1 , Cindy R Friedman 2 3 , Valerie J Morley 1 , Xueting Qiu 1 , Ian Ruskey 2 , Andrew P Rothstein 1 , Patrick B Tiburcio 4 , Casandra W Philipson 1 , Thomas W S Aichele 1 , Stephen M Bart 2 , Dustin Jaynes 5 , Birgitte B Simen 1 , Shelby L O'Connor 4 , David H O'Connor 4
Affiliations Expand
Early detection of outbreaks and emerging pathogens is critical for public health and global biosecurity. Airports, as major international travel hubs with dense, enclosed populations, are high-risk settings for disease transmission and potential pathogen introduction. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in collaboration with Ginkgo Biosecurity and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, implemented air monitoring for pathogen surveillance in congregate areas at four U.S. international airports. From October 2023 to August 2024, SARS-CoV-2 was detected by PCR in 98.3% of air samples and influenza A in 17.2%. Influenza A positivity in air samples correlated with aviation wastewater (r = 0.48), traveler nasal swab positivity (r = 0.73), and national clinical surveillance (r = 0.86), whereas SARS-CoV-2 measurements did not correlate significantly across these modalities. Targeted amplicon sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 from air samples identified contemporaneous lineages also detected in wastewater collected from the same airports. Targeted enrichment sequencing detected 30 viral species and recovered high-quality genomes for SARS-CoV-2, influenza, bocavirus, and seasonal coronaviruses. Together, these findings demonstrate that air sampling can complement aviation wastewater surveillance at ports of entry, although performance and concordance vary by pathogen and sample type.
. 2026 Sep 9;6(9):e0006810.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0006810. eCollection 2026.
Multimodal genomic surveillance for respiratory pathogens at four U.S. international airports: A comparison of air, wastewater, clinical, and national surveillance data
Dawn Gratalo 1 , Cindy R Friedman 2 3 , Valerie J Morley 1 , Xueting Qiu 1 , Ian Ruskey 2 , Andrew P Rothstein 1 , Patrick B Tiburcio 4 , Casandra W Philipson 1 , Thomas W S Aichele 1 , Stephen M Bart 2 , Dustin Jaynes 5 , Birgitte B Simen 1 , Shelby L O'Connor 4 , David H O'Connor 4
Affiliations Expand
- PMID: 42715246
- DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0006810
Abstract
Early detection of outbreaks and emerging pathogens is critical for public health and global biosecurity. Airports, as major international travel hubs with dense, enclosed populations, are high-risk settings for disease transmission and potential pathogen introduction. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in collaboration with Ginkgo Biosecurity and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, implemented air monitoring for pathogen surveillance in congregate areas at four U.S. international airports. From October 2023 to August 2024, SARS-CoV-2 was detected by PCR in 98.3% of air samples and influenza A in 17.2%. Influenza A positivity in air samples correlated with aviation wastewater (r = 0.48), traveler nasal swab positivity (r = 0.73), and national clinical surveillance (r = 0.86), whereas SARS-CoV-2 measurements did not correlate significantly across these modalities. Targeted amplicon sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 from air samples identified contemporaneous lineages also detected in wastewater collected from the same airports. Targeted enrichment sequencing detected 30 viral species and recovered high-quality genomes for SARS-CoV-2, influenza, bocavirus, and seasonal coronaviruses. Together, these findings demonstrate that air sampling can complement aviation wastewater surveillance at ports of entry, although performance and concordance vary by pathogen and sample type.