Flu in the Air We Share
Why the air around us deserves a place in everyday infection prevention
When someone develops the flu, we notice the fever, the cough and the fatigue. What often receives less attention is the air they have been sharing—with family at home, colleagues in an office or other patients in a waiting room.
That shared air is part of the prevention story.
Influenza can spread through infectious respiratory particles released when an infected person breathes, talks, coughs or sneezes. In enclosed spaces with inadequate ventilation, these particles can accumulate, increasing opportunities for others to breathe them in.
For many people, influenza resolves without serious complications. For young children, older adults, pregnant women and people with weakened immunity or chronic illness, however, it can lead to severe disease and hospitalisation.
This makes the environments we share especially important.
A crowded clinic. A classroom with closed windows. An air-conditioned office. A bedroom where someone is recovering from illness. In each, the quality and movement of indoor air deserve attention alongside the surfaces we clean.
Prevention needs several layers.
Vaccination, staying home when unwell, appropriate mask use and hand hygiene all have a role. Ventilation helps dilute and remove infectious particles indoors.
But opening windows is not always practical. Outdoor pollution, building design, weather and the requirements of healthcare spaces can limit natural ventilation. Even where ventilation is available, additional air cleaning may be useful.
At Biomoneta, this is the challenge behind our work on ZeBox® technology: how can we continuously capture and inactivate airborne microorganisms in the spaces people occupy?
Filter-based air cleaners capture particles, including those that carry microorganisms. ZeBox uses a controlled electric field to draw airborne microorganisms towards a microbicidal surface, where they are captured and inactivated.
The distinction lies in combining capture with inactivation on that surface.
Biomoneta’s laboratory evaluations have examined ZeBox against airborne microorganisms, including H1N1 influenza and SARS-CoV-2. These evaluations help establish performance under defined test conditions. Their interpretation must account for the test setup, exposure time and device configuration.
Actual performance in an occupied space depends on factors such as room size, airflow, occupancy, device placement and continued introduction of infectious particles. Air cleaning therefore belongs within a broader prevention strategy, alongside vaccination, ventilation and other appropriate precautions.
This matters wherever people share indoor air, particularly where vulnerable individuals receive care—from fever clinics and elder-care facilities to neonatal and cancer wards.
For us at Biomoneta, the purpose of this work is to make control of airborne microorganisms a practical part of caring for indoor environments.
During flu season, we naturally ask what we can do to protect ourselves and those around us. The air we share deserves to be part of that conversation.
We cannot always prevent an infected person from entering a room. We can take steps to reduce the infectious particles that remain in its air
