Patent Application
20210293817
The invention relates to the field of the detection of infectious agents such as bacteria and viruses present in an environment, and in particular to the adaptations making it possible to implement this detection under the best conditions.
There are a number of tests for detecting and identifying a bacterium or a virus. However, in most cases, these tests on patients are performed after the epidemic is observed (these patients may be subject to surveillance).
In addition, once the epidemic has been observed, the detection of its presence and its follow-up depend on monitoring new patients or not.
Once the epidemic has been observed, there are means of remote temperature measurement of patients, who can be geo-located and tracked by their telephone to allow the health authorities to treat him and prevent the rest of the population from being in contact with him. This type of monitoring can pose a problem for its legal application. In addition, it does not allow the presence of the virus to be monitored in the absence of a detected patient. Thus, a healthy carrier or one who does not have the searched symptom (temperature here) or the absence of a patient (due to a containment measure) are all cases that do not allow proper monitoring of the epidemic.
Furthermore, it does not solve the problem of detecting and tracking the bacteria or virus before the epidemic occurs or at the very beginning of this epidemic.
Based on the foregoing, the applicants carried out research aimed at:
This research has led to a process for detecting and monitoring the presence, development and propagation of at least one infectious agent such as a bacterium or a virus, remarkable in that it includes the following steps:
Install at each identified point in each area cell an autonomous detection device for detection of the infectious agent present in the surrounding environment of the device by analysis and identification.
The invention is particularly advantageous in that it proposes to predispose in the territory devices, terminals, stations or probes for detecting infectious agents (bacteria and/or viruses) which are equipped with adequate detection, identification and analysis means. These means analyze the environment, the fluid at the identified points.
According to another particularly beneficial feature, said environment is air or water. When the environment, the fluid analyzed is water, the latter may be water from one of the following environments: River, lake, ocean, stream, sea, water table, rain, well, etc.
The identified patients are thus not monitored but the presence of the infectious agent in the air. The latter can therefore be detected before the epidemic is declared. In addition, it can be detected and monitored despite the presence of asymptomatic patients or despite the absence of a patient to monitor due to a containment measure.
The invention also has the great advantage of not arising a legal problem as regards to its implementation.
According to another particularly advantageous feature of the invention, the method is applicable to an infectious agent which is indifferently:
According to another particularly advantageous characteristic of the invention, the analysis and identification of the infectious agent are carried out by one or more of the following methods:
According to another particularly advantageous feature of the invention, the method comprises a step of aspiration of the environment surrounding the autonomous device towards the interior of the device. The air surrounding the device is thus sucked in, when the device is installed on land.
According to another particularly advantageous feature of the invention, the aspiration of the environment surrounding the autonomous detection device takes place at fixed time intervals.
According to another particularly advantageous feature of the invention, the aspiration of the environment surrounding the autonomous detection device takes place at variable time intervals and depending on the frequency of visit of each point of installation of the device.
According to a particularly advantageous feature of the invention, the method consists in analyzing the airborne microdroplets at the identified points, emitted by human and/or animal beings likely to be infected by the infectious agent or by human and/or animal beings likely to be hosts of said infectious agent.
According to another particularly advantageous feature of the invention, the method applies to at least one of the following infectious agents and the device for carrying out the method is equipped for the detection of at least one of the following infectious agents:
The invention also concerns the device for implementing the above described method, which autonomous device is remarkable in that it includes:
According to another feature of the invention, the device only comprises the extraction means, the analysis and identification of the infectious agent being carried out afterwards in a specialized laboratory.
According to another feature of the invention, the device comprises means for analyzing and identifying the infectious agent extracted.
According to another feature of the invention, the device comprises means for recording and storing the results of analysis and identification of viruses and/or bacteria.
According to another particularly advantageous feature of the invention, the extraction of the air is carried out by suction of the air surrounding the autonomous detection device using an air pump, which suction of air is followed by filtration of the air.
According to another particularly advantageous feature of the invention, the filtration of the air is carried out by at least one of the following means:
According to another particularly advantageous feature of the invention, the membrane is soluble in the reagent(s) used to isolate or purify the infectious agent(s) or their genome or characteristic substances or proteins.
According to another particularly advantageous feature of the invention, the extraction of the microdroplets by air suction is followed by condensation and subsequent collection of the condensates.
According to another particularly advantageous feature of the invention, this condensation is carried out by means of cryogenic cooling of the sucked air, implemented by an electric cooling module.
According to another feature of the invention, the device includes a sensor for detecting the passage or presence of human or animal beings, making it possible to trigger the suction.
According to another feature of the invention, the autonomous device comprises one or more disinfection means selected from the following list:
According to another particularly advantageous feature of the invention, the autonomous device includes reagents that neutralize the disinfecting reagents between each analysis.
According to another feature of the invention, in order to increase the operating autonomy of the device and also to avoid contamination of the various analytical samples, the autonomous device comprises a plurality of independent cartridges for the extraction of infectious agent, which cartridges are mounted in parallel with isolation means for isolating each cartridge upstream and downstream and with a single cartridge or a limited number of cartridges that can operate simultaneously.
According to an embodiment, all the cartridges are connected, upstream and ahead of the isolation means of each cartridge, to the outlet of a single pump for the aspiration of the microdroplets or aerosols containing infectious agents.
In one variant, all the cartridges are connected, downstream and after the isolation means of each cartridge, to the inlet of a single pump for the aspiration of the air containing microdroplets or aerosols likely to contain infectious agents.
According to another feature of the invention, in order to increase the operating autonomy of the device and also to avoid contamination of the different analytical samples, the autonomous device comprises several independent circuits mounted in parallel and each comprising means for extracting infectious agent from viruses and/or bacteria and means of analyzing and identifying the infectious agent, which circuits are mounted in parallel with means for isolating each circuit upstream and downstream.
According to another particularly advantageous feature of the invention, the autonomous device is supplied with electrical power via one or more of the following supply means:
According to another particularly advantageous feature of the invention, the autonomous device is installed at a height in relation to the ground between 0 m (on the ground) and 2.5 m (maximum height of the human being).
According to another feature of the invention, the device includes geolocation means.
According to another particularly advantageous feature of the invention, the device comprises an enclosure containing all or part of the means described above and closed by walls in which orifices are arranged, which orifices allow inside passage of the surrounding air by suction.
According to another particularly advantageous feature of the invention, the follow-up of the propagation of at least one infectious agent present in the air at different considered points of a considered geographical area are carried out by a process of reverse location search. That is, a user of the process can know, without knowing the name of the place, where and in what quantity an infectious agent is detected.
Which reverse search procedure is characterized by the fact that it associates:
Thus, a user searching for a location can define as search parameters medical criteria or the presence of one or more infectious agents. The process enables him/her, thanks to autonomous devices, to provide data that meet this search parameter.
Since the fundamental concepts of the invention have just been set out above in their most elementary form, other details and characteristics will emerge more clearly on reading the description that follows and in relation to the appended drawings, supplying, as non-limiting examples, a mode of execution of a device according to the invention.
As shown in
Various means of suction, detection, etc. . . . of viruses and/or bacteria in device D are arranged in the housing 100. The suction means draw air surrounding the device D (arrows F) and in particular the droplets G emitted by the person P. Once viruses or bacteria detected, the device D transmits the information.
It is understandable that the devices described above and represented above were intended for disclosure rather than limitation. Of course, various adjustments, modifications and improvements can be made to the above examples, without going beyond the scope of the invention.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62992309 | Mar 2020 | US | |
| 62994048 | Mar 2020 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/FR2020/000085 | Apr 2020 | US |
| Child | 17247892 | US |
