Aerosol researchers at McKelvey School of Engineering tackle novel coronavirus
Aerosol research at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis is working at breakneck speed to understand the novel coronavirus and its effects at scales ranging from ecosystems to virus particles suspended in droplets.
Device traps, disables harmful bacteria
A team of engineers from Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Colorado at Boulder has removed bioaerosols – airborne biological particulate matter — from the air of a hospital therapy pool using a new generation of hybrid filters. The bioaerosols identified in the unnamed Midwestern hospital pool had sickened nine lifeguards who had become ill with hypersensitivity pneumonitis, a lung condition that mimics pneumonia symptoms. This forced the pool to shut down. It is now reopened.
Using molecular technique, researchers identify hospital pool bacterial pathogen
A WUSTL researcher has identified a bacterium as the pathogen living on bubbles in hot water environments.A team of researchers, led by an environmental engineer at Washington University in St. Louis, has applied a molecular approach to identify the biological particles in aerosol responsible for making employees of a Colorado hospital therapeutic pool ill. They found: when the bubble bursts, the bacteria disperse, and lifeguards get pneumonia-like symptoms.