METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETECTING VIRUSES USING PRIMARY ANDSECONDARY BIOMARKERS

摘要

The present invention relates to the detection of the likely presence of a virus in the environment. The detection is accomplished in a relatively rapid fashion that permits countermeasures to be taken to reduc e the debilitating or deadly effects of the virus upon the target population. In one embodiment, the detection is accomplished by looking for the mass spectral signature or biomarker for a lipid, which is present in the cell cultures used to produce the virus. One biomarker that i s considered particularly diagnostic for the presence of a virus is cholesterol.