You might check Mandal & Brandl (2011) Bioaerosols in indoor environments - A review with special reference to residential and occupational locations. Open Environmental & Biological Monitoring Journal 4:83-96 [DOI 10.2174/1875040001104010083] for an overview on bioaerosol sampling. The "best" sampling method depends on the goals you want to achieve or questions you want to answer. The simplest (and cheapest) method is the use of "sedimentation plates" (=open Petri dishes for a certain time period). We have good experiences with impinger (for molecular work) and impactors (for cultivations). But for these sampling methods you need of course the appropriate equipment.

Thank you for your respond

We use some methods approved by environmental regulators in the UK. The Environment agency and the HSE, these are different depending upon the nature of the sampling - environmental by anderson samples and occupational by button smples.

Please find attached which may help

Have a look on the website for HSE and EA

Also, have a look at this review on atmosheric sampling methods, will send you a review on this next week

A good introduction to bioaerosol sampling could also be found here:

http://aerosol.ees.ufl.edu/Bioaerosol/Section01.html

Impactors, impingers and filters are good if you want to collect the bioaerosol and proceed with further analysis with for instance PCR. If you need higher time-resolution, more advanced devices such as fluorescence detectors or rotating slit-samplers.

My two cents:

(1) So far there are few standard sampling protocols for biological aerosols available, especially for ambient bioaerosols. Many analyses, such as culturable bacteria and fungi, endotoxin and polymerase chain reaction (PCR), are affected by particle collection medium, filter handling, storage, extraction method, and so on (numerous factors!!). For example, impringers are known to yield higher culturable bacterial and fungal counts as well as higher endotoxin concentration than Anderson bioaerosol impactor (in which particles are collected on algal plates) and filter-based method. So, I would say the best strategy for bioaerosol sampling is to find the most prevalent methods (in the literature) and follow them such that your measurements are comparable with previous ones.

(2) The selection of bioaerosol sampling methods depends on your purpose. If you wish to measure organic tracers (e.g., egosterol, arabitol, endotoxin and 3-hydroxy fatty acid), I would suggest you use quartz fiber filters because they can be prefired to completely remove organic and biological residues. If you wish to determine the size and morphology of bioaerosols by microscopy, polycarbonate filters are the best choice... However, filters may not be appropriate for molecular biology analysis (especially when you wish to study the activity/metabolism of microorganisms) because filters, to many organisms, are a harsh environment. The size of the target bioaerosol is another factor to consider. Impingers and filters perform poorly when collecting ultrafine virus particles. Some studies suggest the use of electrostatic precipitator (ESP). But every technique has advantages and limitations. ESP is good for most purpose, but the induced ozonation may kill gram-negative bacteria and bias the measurement of endotoxin - just an example.

Cork university have published a recent study, using the laser method by in animal production facility