Detection of infectious agents from environmental air dust

A method for detecting one or more pathogens attached to environmental air dust, comprising:

• receiving a test sample comprising environmental air dust released by agitation of soiled bedding, the soiled bedding positioned within an animal enclosure of an individually ventilated cage rack (IVR), the test sample captured from airflow passing through the animal enclosure by air filtering collection media, the animal enclosure comprising a chamber containing an animal cage in fluid communication with the airflow, wherein the test sample is received while the environmental air dust is still retained on the air filtering collection media,
• wherein the air filtering collection media is disposed on an interior wall of the animal enclosure and not in direct contact with an exhaust for the animal enclosure to capture the environmental air dust while the environmental air dust is circulating through an interior volume of the animal enclosure;
• isolating a plurality of nucleic acids from the test sample;
• and
• analyzing the isolated nucleic acids to identify the presence or absence of a pathogen from the interior volume of the animal enclosure.

A method for detecting at least one pathogen, comprising:

• receiving a test sample comprising environmental air dust released by agitation of soiled bedding, the soiled bedding positioned within an animal enclosure of an individually ventilated cage rack (IVR), the test sample captured from airflow passing through the animal enclosure of the IVR by a collection media, wherein the collection media is disposed on an interior wall of the animal enclosure and not in direct contact with an exhaust for the animal enclosure to capture the environmental air dust within the airflow circulating through an interior volume of the animal enclosure, wherein the test sample is received while the environmental air dust is still retained on the collection media;
• placing the collection media having the environmental air dust collected thereon in a tube;
• pipetting a solution directly onto the collection media;
• subjecting the tube to a vortex to thoroughly wash the collection media with the solution;
• adding a nucleic acid recovery control to the tube;
• isolating a plurality of nucleic acids from the test sample;
• and
• analyzing the isolated plurality of nucleic acids to identify the presence or absence of at least one pathogen from the interior volume of the animal enclosure.