A research team from Laval University studying the presence of antibiotic resistance genes in the air used an ingenious and economical method to obtain samples from all regions of Canada without having to travel. It achieved this by using the cabin filter of 477 automobiles from 51 Canadian locations.
“Car dealerships, municipal fleet managers and people we know across the country have agreed to collect cabin filters from cars, place them in sterile bags and send them to our lab” , explains the project leader, Paul George, professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Bioinformatics at Laval University, and researcher at the Research Center of the University Institute of Cardiology and Pneumology of Quebec-Université Laval .
As their name suggests, these filters are used to purify outside air before it enters the passenger compartment of a car through the ventilation system. Fine particles such as dust, bacteria, microscopic fungi and pollen grains present in the air are captured by these filters. For this reason, it is recommended to change them at least once a year or approximately every 20,000 kilometers. “We asked our network of collaborators to send us these filters when they were replaced,” explains Professor George.
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