Human pathogenic bacteria on high-touch dry surfaces can be controlled by warming to human-skin temperature under moderate humidity

3Citations
Citations of this article
15Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.
Get full text

Abstract

Healthcare-associated infections have become a major health issue worldwide. One route of transmission of pathogenic bacteria is through contact with “high-touch” dry surfaces, such as handrails. Regular cleaning of surfaces with disinfectant chemicals is insufficient against pathogenic bacteria and alternative control methods are therefore required. We previously showed that warming to human-skin temperature affected the survival of pathogenic bacteria on dry surfaces, but humidity was not considered in that study. Here, we investigated environmental factors that affect the number of live bacteria on dry surfaces in hospitals by principal component analysis of previously-collected data (n = 576, for CFU counts), and experimentally verified the effect of warming to human-skin temperature on the survival of pathogenic bacteria on dry surfaces under humidity control. The results revealed that PCA divided hospital dry surfaces into four groups (Group 1~4) and hospital dry surfaces at low temperature and low humidity (Group 3) had much higher bacterial counts as compared to the others (Group 1 and 4) (p<0.05). Experimentally, warming to human-skin temperature (37C with 90% humidity) for 18~72h significantly suppressed the survival of pathogenic bacteria on dry surfaces, such as plastic surfaces [p<0.05 vs. 15C (Escherichia coli DH5α, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii, and blaNDM-5 E. coli)] or handrails [p<0.05 vs. 15~25C (E. coli DH5α, S. aureus, P. aeruginosa, A. baumannii)], under moderate 55% humidity. Furthermore, intermittent heating to human-skin temperature reduced the survival of spore-forming bacteria (Bacillus subtilis) (p<0.01 vs. continuous heating to human-skin temperature). NhaA, an Na+/H+ antiporter, was found to regulate the survival of bacteria on dry surfaces, and the inhibitor 2-aminoperimidine enhanced the effect of warming at human-skin temperature on the survival of pathogenic bacteria (E. coli DH5α, S. aureus, A. baumannii) on dry surfaces. Thus, warming to human-skin temperature under moderate humidity is a useful method for impairing live pathogenic bacteria on high-touch surfaces, thereby helping to prevent the spread of healthcare-associated infections.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Konno, A., Okubo, T., Enoeda, Y., Uno, T., Sato, T., Yokota, S. I., … Yamaguchi, H. (2023). Human pathogenic bacteria on high-touch dry surfaces can be controlled by warming to human-skin temperature under moderate humidity. PLoS ONE, 18(9 September). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0291765

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free