Impacts of indoor surface finishes on bacterial viability

Hu, Jinglin; Maamar, Sarah Ben; Glawe, A.; Gottel, Neil; Gilbert, Jack A.; Hartmann, Erica M.

doi:10.1111/ina.12558

Cited by 31 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…On indoor surfaces that lack abundant moisture and nutrient availability, most microorganisms that arrive from other environments (such as from human occupants) are generally considered unlikely to survive, and those viable microbes that do survive are generally considered to be inactive or dormant until transferred to other host locations or until they experience an influx of moisture and nutrients that help them proliferate [4••, [50][51][52]. Surveys of fungal communities in indoor environments, conducted using high-throughput molecular sequencing, have shown that they tend to be driven primarily by transport from the local outdoor environment [31].…”

Section: Microbial Community Ecology On Fomite Surfacesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbial Exchange via Fomites and Implications for Human Health

et al. 2019

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Purpose of Review Fomites are inanimate objects that become colonized with microbes and serve as potential intermediaries for transmission to/from humans. This review summarizes recent literature on fomite contamination and microbial survival in the built environment, transmission between fomites and humans, and implications for human health. Recent Findings Applications of molecular sequencing techniques to analyze microbial samples have increased our understanding of the microbial diversity that exists in the built environment. This growing body of research has established that microbial communities on surfaces include substantial diversity, with considerable dynamics. While many microbial taxa likely die or lay dormant, some organisms survive, including those that are potentially beneficial, benign, or pathogenic. Surface characteristics also influence microbial survival and rates of transfer to and from humans. Recent research has combined experimental data, mechanistic modeling, and epidemiological approaches to shed light on the likely contributors to microbial exchange between fomites and humans and their contributions to adverse (and even potentially beneficial) human health outcomes. Summary In addition to concerns for fomite transmission of potential pathogens, new analytical tools have uncovered other microbial matters that can be transmitted indirectly via fomites, including entire microbial communities and antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Mathematical models and epidemiological approaches can provide insight on human health implications. However, both are subject to limitations associated with study design, and there is a need to better understand appropriate input model parameters. Fomites remain an important mechanism of transmission of many microbes, along with direct contact and short-and long-range aerosols.

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Section: Microbial Community Ecology On Fomite Surfacesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbial Exchange via Fomites and Implications for Human Health

et al. 2019

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“…It is one of relatively few clades near-universally prevalent on human skin as a commensal, and as a result is widely distributed in the built environment; it can also drive significant opportunistic infection [68]. In fact, the clade represents a serious human health risk via antimicrobial resistance [59] in the built environment, often associated with high-touch surfaces where it can remain viable for days [69][70][71]. Finally, because one of our metagenomes contained a high relative abundance of Staphylococcus-associated reads, we were confident that we would find Staphylococcus within the culture isolates generated from that sample.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mobilizable antibiotic resistance genes are present in dust microbial communities

et al. 2020

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The decades-long global trend of urbanization has led to a population that spends increasing amounts of time indoors. Exposure to microbes in buildings, and specifically in dust, is thus also increasing, and has been linked to various health outcomes and to antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). These are most efficiently screened using DNA sequencing, but this method does not determine which microbes are viable, nor does it reveal whether their ARGs can actually disseminate to other microbes. We have thus performed the first study to: 1) examine the potential for ARG dissemination in indoor dust microbial communities, and 2) validate the presence of detected mobile ARGs in viable dust bacteria. Specifically, we integrated 166 dust metagenomes from 43 different buildings. Sequences were assembled, annotated, and screened for potential integrons, transposons, plasmids, and associated ARGs. The same dust samples were further investigated using cultivation and isolate genome and plasmid sequencing. Potential ARGs were detected in dust isolate genomes, and we confirmed their placement on mobile genetic elements using long-read sequencing. We found 183 ARGs, of which 52 were potentially mobile (associated with a putative plasmid, transposon or integron). One dust isolate related to Staphylococcus equorum proved to contain a plasmid carrying an ARG that was detected metagenomically and confirmed through whole genome and plasmid sequencing. This study thus highlights the power of combining cultivation with metagenomics to assess the risk of potentially mobile ARGs for public health.

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“…DNA quality was measured with a Synergy HTX Multi-Mode Reader (BioTek, Winooski, VT, USA) and was considered acceptable for downstream analysis if the 260/280 ratio was between 1.7 and 2.1. DNA concentrations were quantified using the Quant-iT™ dsDNA Assay Kit (ThermoFisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) [ 44 ]. Seven of the 34 samples were originally found to have relatively low yields of DNA that were below requirements for the library prep (0.2 ng uL −1 ); these samples were re-processed with the same steps above using 5 mL of toothbrush head supernatant.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toothbrush microbiomes feature a meeting ground for human oral and environmental microbiota

et al. 2021

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Background While indoor microbiomes impact our health and well-being, much remains unknown about taxonomic and functional transitions that occur in human-derived microbial communities once they are transferred away from human hosts. Toothbrushes are a model to investigate the potential response of oral-derived microbiota to conditions of the built environment. Here, we characterize metagenomes of toothbrushes from 34 subjects to define the toothbrush microbiome and resistome and possible influential factors. Results Toothbrush microbiomes often comprised a dominant subset of human oral taxa and less abundant or site-specific environmental strains. Although toothbrushes contained lower taxonomic diversity than oral-associated counterparts (determined by comparison with the Human Microbiome Project), they had relatively broader antimicrobial resistance gene (ARG) profiles. Toothbrush resistomes were enriched with a variety of ARGs, notably those conferring multidrug efflux and putative resistance to triclosan, which were primarily attributable to versatile environmental taxa. Toothbrush microbial communities and resistomes correlated with a variety of factors linked to personal health, dental hygiene, and bathroom features. Conclusions Selective pressures in the built environment may shape the dynamic mixture of human (primarily oral-associated) and environmental microbiota that encounter each other on toothbrushes. Harboring a microbial diversity and resistome distinct from human-associated counterparts suggests toothbrushes could potentially serve as a reservoir that may enable the transfer of ARGs.

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Impacts of indoor surface finishes on bacterial viability

Cited by 31 publications

References 60 publications

Microbial Exchange via Fomites and Implications for Human Health

Microbial Exchange via Fomites and Implications for Human Health

Mobilizable antibiotic resistance genes are present in dust microbial communities

Toothbrush microbiomes feature a meeting ground for human oral and environmental microbiota

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