Dias, MartaGomes, BiancaPena, PedroCervantes, RenataBeswick, AlanDuchaine, CarolineKolk, AnnetteMadsen, Anne MetteOppliger, AnnePogner, ClaraDuquenne, PhilippeWouters, Inge M.Crook, BrianViegas, Carla2024-06-242024-06-242024-06Dias M, Gomes B, Pena P, Cervantes R, Beswick A, Viegas C, et al. Filling the knowledge gap: scoping review regarding sampling methods, assays, and further requirements to assess airborne viruses. Sci Total Environ. 2024;946:174016.http://hdl.handle.net/10400.21/17524This research was funded by Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal for funding the Projects IPL/2023/FoodAIIEU_ESTeSL; IPL/2023/ASPRisk_ESTeSL; IPL/2023/ARAFSawmil_ESTeSL. Authors gratefully acknowledge the FCT/MCTES national support through the UIDB/05608/2020 and UIDP/05608/2020 and the PhD Grant UI/BD/151431/2021. This work was also supported by national funds through FCT/MCTES/FSE/UE, UI/BD/153746/2022, UI/BD/153746/2022, and CE3C unit UIDB/00329/2020 within the scope of a PhD Grant. The authors also acknowledge the financial support of the European Commission under grant INCHILDHEALTH, which was funded from the H2020 RTD Framework Programme of the European Union (Grant agreement no: 101056883) and PhD Grant IPL/2022/InChildhealth/BI/12M.Assessment of occupational exposure to viruses is crucial to identify virus reservoirs and sources of dissemination early and to help prevent spread between employees and the general population. Measuring workers' exposure can facilitate the assessment of the effectiveness of protective and mitigation measures in place. This scoping review aims to give an overview of available methods and those already implemented for airborne virus exposure assessment in different occupational and indoor environments. The results retrieved from the various studies may contribute to the setting of future standards and guidelines to ensure a reliable risk characterization in the occupational environments crucial for the implementation of effective control measures. The search aimed at selecting studies between January 1st, 2010, and June 30th, 2023 in the selected databases. Fifty papers on virus exposure assessment fitted the eligibility criteria and were selected for data extraction. Overall, this study identified gaps in knowledge regarding virus assessment and pinpointed the need for further research. Several discrepancies were found (transport temperatures, elution steps, …), as well as a lack of publication of important data related to the exposure conditions (contextual information). With the available information, it is impossible to compare results between studies employing different methods, and even if the same methods are used, different conclusions/ recommendations based on expert judgment have been reported due to the lack of consensus in the contextual information retrieved and/or data interpretation. Future research on the field targeting sampling methods and in the laboratory regarding the assays to employ should be developed bearing in mind the different goals of the assessment.engOccupational healthOccupational exposureExposure assessmentAssaysBioaerosolsSamplingVirusesFCT_UIDB/05608/2020FCT_UIDP/05608/2020IPL/2023/FoodAIIEU_ESTeSLIPL/2023/ASPRisk_ESTeSLIPL/2023/ARAFSawmil_ESTeSLjournal article10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.174016