REVIEW PAPER Healthy schools: standardisation of culturing methods for seeking airborne pathogens in bioaerosols emitted from human sources Nikki D’Arcy • Melisa Canales • David. A. Spratt • Ka man Lai Received: 8 June 2011 / Accepted: 31 January 2012 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012 Abstract Schools are one of the critical social infrastructures in a society, and children are particu- larly at risk of lung damage and infection caused by poor air quality. The issue of healthy schools is a global concern. In this paper, we highlight the importance of airborne transmission of microorgan- isms in schools and the impact on children’s health and wider economic and social implications. We propose the concept of air hygiene; measuring and assessing the level of bioaerosols emitted from human sources (primarily respiratory) can serve as a guide to indicate overall air quality, associated with airborne infections. Current bioaerosol sampling in schools (if carried out) is based on the use of Trypticase Soy Agar that can indicate environmental sources of bioaerosols. We suggest that a more appropriate agar could be used for bioaerosols of human origin. It is critical to develop and standardise a simple and economic method that can be used in a range of schools and environments even if resources are limited to monitor the air hygiene. The use of blood agar and different samplings methods are reviewed, and the most appropriate method is proposed for further testing and validation in order to develop a global standard method. Keywords Bioaerosol Á Schools Á Blood agar Á Monitoring 1 Introduction 1.1 Importance of assessing disease transmission risk in schools Schools are one of the critical social infrastructures in a society, and children are particularly at risk of lung damage and infection caused by poor air quality. Maintaining a healthy environment and, therefore, reducing disease transmission risk should inarguably be one of the key agendas in school operation. Currently, low rates of microbiological testing in schools and in other public areas can lead to inaccurate information and non-detection of disease (HPA 2009). It is important to understand the microbial community within public areas and, in particular, in schools as poor health in children impacts on wider society. Outbreaks of infection can lead to closure of schools and parents taking time off work to care for them, thus impacting on the economy (Cauchemez et al. 2009). The air in almost all indoor locations contains microorganisms due to their ubiquity in the environ- ment on and in human beings. Disease events are relatively uncommon and are sporadic in nature. N. D’Arcy Á M. Canales Á K. Lai (&) Healthy Infrastructure Research Centre, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK e-mail: k.lai@ucl.ac.uk David. A. Spratt The Eastman Dental Institute, 256 Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1X 8LD, UK 123 Aerobiologia DOI 10.1007/s10453-012-9251-5