New papers on microbiology of the built environment, July 2, 2016

Microbes in the city Also see this blog post earlier this week: Urban Transit System Microbial Communities Differ by Surface Type and Interaction with Humans and the Environment – Tiffany Hsu – mSystems (OA) Public transit systems are ideal for studying the urban microbiome and interindividual community transfer. In this study, we used 16S amplicon and …

Will you wear an N-95 respirator on your next flight? or in the airport?

Lots of attention to disease transmission and illness related to air travel lately. A new paper in the journal Indoor Air suggests that if passengers would wear N-95 respirators when they fly, they could significantly reduce their risk of infection. You can read the paper “Risk assessment of airborne infectious diseases in aircraft cabins” at …

Big shocker – tests show bacteria present on seats (trains, cars, etc); kind of fun, but a bit over the top

Good Morning America is taking on bacteria.  Bacteria that are found indoors.  The report: GMA Germ Test Shows Public Seats Full of Bacteria – ABC News has  some interesting bits and the video is nice in many ways.  The bottom line – they found bacteria (by culturing) in all sorts of indoor locations.  And they did …

A conference abstract that leaves me wanting more: microbes in the indoor air of high speed trains

Found a meeting abstract that intrigued me:Distribution of Airborne Bacteria and Fungi in the Korean High Speed Train Indoor.  The abstract is below: Background/Aims: It is known that the airborne bacteria and fungi can be the cause of a variety of infectious diseases as well as allergic and toxic effects. The purpose of this study …