Environmental dynamics of hospital microbiome upon transfer from a major hospital to a new facility

The Microbiome of the Built Environment: The Nexus for Urban Regeneration for the Cities of Tomorrow

“…The Hospital Microbiome Project, which has just reached its tenth year, was a year-long work to characterize the microbial colonization of the newly constructed University of Chicago Medical Center Hospital (Chicago, IL, USA) [92]. After a hospital's opening, surface bacterial load increases, and microbiota composition changes to mainly skin-associated genera, such as Corynebacterium, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, and Acinetobacter [93,94]. Indeed, skin-associated microbiota is everywhere in a hospital: in common areas [93], high-touch surfaces (such as doorknobs, bed rails, and bedroom lockers) in patients' rooms [89,93], and even in the dust over operating room floors and lamps [95], while aquatic and terrestrial environment-associated bacteria (for example, Achromobacter, Elizabethkingia, and Serratia) are present in the aerator and sink trap of patients' rooms [89].…”

“…After a hospital's opening, surface bacterial load increases, and microbiota composition changes to mainly skin-associated genera, such as Corynebacterium, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, and Acinetobacter [93,94]. Indeed, skin-associated microbiota is everywhere in a hospital: in common areas [93], high-touch surfaces (such as doorknobs, bed rails, and bedroom lockers) in patients' rooms [89,93], and even in the dust over operating room floors and lamps [95], while aquatic and terrestrial environment-associated bacteria (for example, Achromobacter, Elizabethkingia, and Serratia) are present in the aerator and sink trap of patients' rooms [89]. When a hospital closes, however, human-associated microorganisms' abundances decrease, while environmental bacteria, such as Bacillaceae, Burkholderiaceae, and Rhizobiaceae, increase [96], indicating that occupancy is the major driver of hospital microbiota [93].…”

New frontiers in healthcare environmental hygiene: thoughts from the 2022 healthcare cleaning forum

“…To identify alternative solutions, a better understanding of the hospital’s microbiota and the environmental biofilms is key. Though recent studies using (meta)genomic analyses of the hospital environment have provided some insights into the hospital microbiota, they did not provide support for the development of new interventions such as probiotic-based treatments [ 16 – 18 ]. An analysis using a culture-based approach based on MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry of sink biofilms did provide some modest leads, but additional experiments are needed to draw more firm conclusions on which microorganisms enable or inhibit P. aeruginosa persistence [ 8 ].…”

Characterization of SARS-CoV-2 Distribution and Microbial Succession in a Clinical Microbiology Testing Facility during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic

“…The microbes that inhabit the BE are probably most important in health care settings, where chronically ill patients are at high risk of acquiring hospital-acquired infections. These types of infections are among the leading causes of patient deaths ( 36 – 39 ); however, there have been relatively few studies characterizing the microbes that exist in health care environments ( 40 – 51 ). Prior studies have demonstrated that both pathogen outbreaks and pathogen exposures can occur in a clinical microbiology laboratory setting, because the people in the laboratory work to cultivate and/or detect these pathogens.…”