Dispersal of Bacteria on Desquamated Skin

Davies, R. R.

doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(62)90849-8

Cited by 148 publications

(66 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…[17] and references within). When these skin cells mature and naturally exfoliate, the infectious material can become airborne (electronic supplementary material, Particle Suspension Mechanisms), travel to new hosts and cause infection when inhaled or deposited directly onto the skin of the new host [10,[18][19][20][21][22]. This mechanism is believed to be a significant source of bacterial infection for surgical procedures and other nosocomial infections [10,18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Skin as a potential source of infectious foot and mouth disease aerosols

Dillon

2011

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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This review examines whether exfoliated, virus-infected animal skin cells could be an important source of infectious foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV) aerosols. Infectious material rafting on skin cell aerosols is an established means of transmitting other diseases. The evidence for a similar mechanism for FMDV is: (i) FMDV is trophic for animal skin and FMDV epidermis titres are high, even in macroscopically normal skin; (ii) estimates for FMDV skin cell aerosol emissions appear consistent with measured aerosol emission rates and are orders of magnitude larger than the minimum infectious dose; (iii) the timing of infectious FMDV aerosol emissions is consistent with the timing of high FMDV skin concentrations; (iv) measured FMDV aerosol sizes are consistent with skin cell aerosols; and (v) FMDV stability in natural aerosols is consistent with that expected for skin cell aerosols. While these findings support the hypothesis, this review is insufficient, in and of itself, to prove the hypothesis and specific follow-on experiments are proposed. If this hypothesis is validated, (i) new FMDV detection, management and decontamination approaches could be developed and (ii) the relevance of skin cells to the spread of viral disease may need to be reassessed as skin cells may protect viruses against otherwise adverse environmental conditions.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Skin as a potential source of infectious foot and mouth disease aerosols

Dillon

2011

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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“…Noble et al 1976) is the very wide variation in the rates of dispersal by different individuals. The bacteria dispersed in these experiments are carried on desquamated skin scales (Davies & Noble, 1962). The numbers of bacteria enumerated in dispersal experiments will therefore depend on the numbers of scales dispersed into the air, the proportion of these carrying viable bacteria and, if the sampling method separates the bacteria carried on a single scale, the numbers of separable bacteria on each scale.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The dimensions of skin fragments dispersed into the air during activity

Mackintosh¹,

Lidwell²,

Towers³

et al. 1978

J. Hyg.

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SUMMARYThere was a 1000-fold difference between the highest and the lowest mean rate of dispersal of bacteria-carrying particles during exercise among a group of three male and three female subjects. Differences in the numbers of skin fragments dispersed and in the proportion of these carrying bacteria were almost equally responsible for this. Since there is little difference between individuals in the rate of skin replacement the differences in the rates of dispersal of skin fragments during exercise must reflect large variations in the amount of skin surface removed in other ways. The skin fragments dispersed had a wide size range extending below 5 ,tm for the minimum projected diameter (MPD). The median MPD was about 20 ,um with 7-10% less than 10 ,um.

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“…It has been estimated that 10 % of such skin scales carry viable microorganisms (Noble & Davies, 1965). Davies & Noble (1962) observed concentrations of skin scales ranging from ca. 350 to 2000 per litre of air sampled from hospital ward environments (figures not dissimilar from those used in the present study) but only a small proportion (0 1-0.25 %) carried viable microorganisms.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been shown that dust collected from undisturbed surfaces in hospital areas and 'household dust' is largely composed of skin scales (Davies & Noble, 1962;Clark, 1974). Microscopic examination of dust collected in our laboratory shows that this also consists largely of flake-like particles morphologically resembling skin scales.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The potential for contamination of intravenous infusions by airborne skin scales

Holmes

Allwood

1977

J. Hyg.

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SIJMMARYSkin scales may be attracted onto the surface of administration set connector needles before insertion into infusion containers. Viable microorganisms associated with skin scales may therefore gain access to the infusion by this route. A technique is described for creating an environment of airborne skin scales. This environment is used to examine the attraction of skin scales onto the surface of administration set connector needles and three other materials. After exposure, skin scales are found adhering to the surface of each material examined. The attraction of skin scales onto administration set connector needles is dependent on the time of exposure to the environment. Results suggest that intravenous infusions can be contaminated by this route when the infusion and administration set is assembled.

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Dispersal of Bacteria on Desquamated Skin

Cited by 148 publications

References 4 publications

Skin as a potential source of infectious foot and mouth disease aerosols

Skin as a potential source of infectious foot and mouth disease aerosols

The dimensions of skin fragments dispersed into the air during activity

The potential for contamination of intravenous infusions by airborne skin scales

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