Patent ID: 7364553

Claim:
Aerosol collector apparatus for collecting aerosol from exhaled breath of a test subject, comprising: an aerosol collection chamber with a collection surface charged with an electrostatic voltage for collecting aerosol particles from exhaled breath, wherein the aerosol particles are ionized after being exhaled; a conduit for channeling the exhaled breath from the test subject to the aerosol collection chamber; an ionizer system in the conduit for ionizing the aerosol particles in the exhaled breath, an extractor system to remove the aerosol particles from the collection surface for analysis; and a pre-collection filter, wherein the pre-collection filter is an ionizing filter connected in fluid-flow relation to the conduit, and the pre-collection filter is positioned in close enough proximity to the aerosol collection chamber to filter ambient aerosols and prevent ambient aerosols from being inhaled by the test subject.