ORCHARDS-AIR Study

ORegon CHild Absenteeism Due to Respiratory Disease Study - Air Surveillance

The purpose of this observational study is to compare the effectiveness of air surveillance and to better understand the relationship between household transmission and viruses detected in the air.

Participants will provide nasal swabs and have an air sample surveillance device installed in their home.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Acute Respiratory Infection; Influenza-like Illness
• Intervention / Treatment: Diagnostic test: Nasal swab; Device: Indoor air quality monitor

Detailed Description

The purpose of ORCHARDS-AIR is to utilize air surveillance in participant homes in conjunction with individually collected nasal specimens to assess their concordance and evaluate the significance of airborne detection with household transmission of common respiratory pathogens such as influenza and SARS-CoV-2.

The researchers postulate that households with documented and probable respiratory pathogen transmission will have higher rates of in-home air surveillance detection. Students with more severe illnesses will be absent more often and spend more time at home, potentially leading to absenteeism being associated with greater air surveillance detections and intrahousehold transmission.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 422
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Shari Barlow; Phone Number: 608-265-4348; Email: shari.barlow@fammed.wisc.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • Wisconsin
    • Madison, Wisconsin, United States, 53705
      • Recruiting
      • University of Wisconsin-Madison
      • Contact: Shari Barlow; Phone Number: 608-333-2653; Email: shari.barlow@fammed.wisc.edu

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria - Students:

• Student attends, or is eligible to attend, a school within the Oregon School District (OSD)
• Study has an illness characterized by at least 2 of 6 acute respiratory infection (ARI)/ILI symptoms (nasal discharge, nasal congestion, sneezing, sore throat, cough, fever) and student scores at least 2 points on the Jackson scale

Exclusion Criteria - Students:

• Household member listed on Wisconsin Department of Corrections Sex Offender Registry
• Illness onset more than 7 days before anticipated time of specimen collection
• Anatomical defect for which nasal specimen collection is contraindicated
• Student participated too recently (<7 days from day 14 during peak influenza / COVID-19 period and <30 days during other times, as determined by a medically-attended surveillance program)

Inclusion Criteria - Household member:

• Live in the same household as eligible student participant
• Any age and gender
• Fluent in English
• Able to provide appropriate consent or assent

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Students with ARI (acute respiratoy infection); Students with ARI and their household members will provide nasal swabs	Diagnostic test: Nasal swab; Participants will use a swab to collect nasal specimens; Device: Indoor air quality monitor; InBio Apollo ambient air sampler to be run in the home for the duration of study participation. Material from the air, like aerosols, dust particles, and other environmental material, are collected on sampler filler material.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Rate of virus detection	Participants will provide nasal swabs, which will be tested for a panel of viruses.	Day 0, Day 7, Day 14
Rate of air sampling detection among families with documented transmission	Study team will collect and test air sampler filter for viruses.	Day 7, Day 14
Rate of air sampling detection among families without documented transmission	Study team will collect and test air sampler filter for viruses.	Day 7, Day 14
Survey of symptoms - day 0	Qualitative survey of participants' symptoms and related activities.	Day 0
Survey of symptoms - day 7	Qualitative survey of participants' symptoms and related activities.	Day 7
Survey of symptoms - day 14	Qualitative survey of participants' symptoms and related activities.	Day 14
Air sampler use survey	Qualitative survey about participants' use of the air sampler.	Day 7, Day 14

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of absences	Participants will self-report whether they were absent from school during the study period.	14 days

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Wisconsin, Madison
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Jonathan Temte, MD, PhD, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 7, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): June 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 19, 2025
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 19, 2025
• First Posted (Actual): December 23, 2025

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): January 22, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 21, 2026
• Last Verified: December 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 2025-1617; AS (Other Identifier: UW Madison); UWMSN | SMPH | DFMCH Departmen (Other Identifier: UW Madison); Protocol Version 12/15/2025 (Other Identifier: UW Madison)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: Yes
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No