The abundance of the potential pathogen Staphylococcus hominis in the air microbiome in a dental clinic and its susceptibility to far ‐UVC light

This study established a reliable methodology for air sampling in a dental clinic setting and quantified the abundance of culturable mesophilic aerobic bacteria present in these samples using regression modeling.Staphylococcus hominis, a potentially pathogenic bacterium, was the most abundant species of aerobic bacteria and comprised 60% –80% of allStaphylococcus spp. in the clinic air microbiome. The study also assessed the susceptibility ofS. hominis to 222  nm far-UVC light suggesting far-UVC light for reducing bacterial load in dental clinics. AbstractThe dental clinic air microbiome incorporates microbes from the oral cavity and upper respiratory tract (URT). This study aimed to establish a reliable methodology for air sampling in a dental clinic setting and quantify the abundance of culturable mesophilic aerobic bacteria present in these samples using regression modeling.Staphylococcus hominis, a potentially pathogenic bacterium typically found in the human oropharynx and URT, was consistently isolated.S. hominis was the most abundant species of aerobic bacteria (22% –24%) and comprised 60%–80% of allStaphylococcus spp. The study also assessed the susceptibility ofS. hominis to 222  nm-far-UVC light in laboratory experiments, which showed an exponential surface inactivation constant ofk = 0.475 cm2/mJ. This constant is a critical parameter for future on-site use of far-UVC light as a technique for reducing pathogenic bacterial load in dental clinics.

Source: MicrobiologyOpen - March 6, 2023 Category: Microbiology Authors: Marilena Aquino de Muro, Igor Shuryak, Anne ‐Catrin Uhlemann, Alice Tillman, Dwayne Seeram, Joseph Zakaria, David Welch, Steven M. Erde, David J. Brenner Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research