Microorganisms colonising historical cardboard objects from the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oświęcim, Poland and their disinfection with vaporised hydrogen peroxide (VHP)

Application of a Medical Diode Laser (810 nm) for Disinfecting Small Microbiologically Contaminated Spots on Degraded Collagenous Materials for Improved Biosafety in Objects of Exceptional Historical Value From the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Protection of Human Health

“…In the first stage of the study, small spots observed on the surfaces of 30 historical leather shoes stored in the collection of the A-BSM were subjected to assessment of microbiological contamination. A similar number of fungi and a larger number of bacteria were found on the spots on the degraded collagenous materials on tested shoes than on the fabric, cardboard, and wooden elements on shoes from the museum (Rybitwa et al, 2020;Wawrzyk et al, 2020). The average concentration of bacteria obtained in this study was lower, and the one of fungi was similar to that of microorganisms inhabiting leather shoes of prisoners from the collection of the State Museum at Majdanek, Poland, which also originate from the period of World War II (Perkowski and Goździecki, 2002;Falkiewicz-Dulik, 2015).…”

“…Total genomic DNA necessary for sequencing was manually extracted using the minicolumn method combined with the isopropanol precipitation from mixtures of all initial suspensions of the microorganisms sampled from particular types of the historical leathers. The abovementioned qualitative assessment was performed using devices and methodology presented by Wawrzyk et al (2020). Moreover, the following criteria for the validity of the results of identification were taken into account: score value ≥ 2.0 (for MALDI-TOF MS), sequence identity ≥ 98% (for 16S rRNA gene comparison), and relative abundance ≥ 2% (for NGS).…”

“…The effect of laser irradiation on the color, morphology, structure, elemental composition, and chemical condition of the leathers was assessed after 1 month of laser treatment using the devices and methodology presented by Wawrzyk et al (2020), supplemented with additional aspects described below. Spectrophotometrical color measurements were taken in exactly the same place of the sample before and after laser treatment.…”

Corrigendum: Application of a Medical Diode Laser (810 nm) for Disinfecting Small Microbiologically Contaminated Spots on Degraded Collagenous Materials for Improved Biosafety in Objects of Exceptional Historical Value From the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Protection of Human Health

“…All fungi detected on surfaces of tested shoes by culture-dependent methods, including G. candidum, H. verticilata, and P. variotii, were also found in the environments of archives and tanneries (Pinheiro et al, 2011;Pinheiro, 2014;Skóra et al, 2014). Bacteria isolated from the leather shoes belong to the same genera as these contaminating various historical cellulosic movable objects at the A-BSM (Wawrzyk et al, 2018(Wawrzyk et al, , 2020Rybitwa et al, 2020). Most of the microorganisms detected in the current studies using culture-independent methods (with relative abundance ≥ 2.00% and some fungi with lesser one, such as Alternaria, Botrytis, Chaetomium, Epicoccum, Fusarium, Mucor, and Trichoderma) were also previously detected on collagenous materials in many studies with the use of clone libraries construction, PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, and microscopic methods (Troiano et al, 2014;Piñar et al, 2015;Lech, 2016;Karakasidou et al, 2018;Liu et al, 2018).…”

The Bad and the Good—Microorganisms in Cultural Heritage Environments—An Update on Biodeterioration and Biotreatment Approaches

“…Since conventional physico-chemical methods are often ineffective and dangerous for treated artworks (as well as people involved in the conservation process), new strategies are constantly being developed to mitigate the negative impact of microorganisms. These include the use of gamma irradiation [ 1 ], vaporized hydrogen peroxide [ 2 ], low- temperature helium-generated plasm [ 3 ], volatile compounds and essential oils [ 4 ] as well as various natural biocides obtained from microorganisms, marine organisms or plants [ 5 ]. Many of them still need to be further verified, testing their usability in different study-case scenarios and with various materials.…”