Comparison of methods for quantitative determinations of airborne bacteria and evaluation of total viable counts

Abstract

Three different methods of estimating airborne bacteria were compared. An Andersen sampler, a slit sampler, an impinger, and filter samplers with gelatine filters or membrane filters were tested for collection efficiency. The comparisons were made in laboratory experiments with an aerosol of Staphylococcus epidermidis or Serratia marcescens, in field experiments in two different industries, i.e., cotton mill and sewage plant, and in experiments with skin fragment sampling. Experiments were also performed estimating the total number of viable microorganisms on the airborne particles. The Andersen sampler gave the highest bacterial counts in all environments tested. The slit sampler gave statistically lower counts only in the aerosol experiments and cotton mill experiments, where the size of the majority of the particles carrying visible bacteria was 2 to 6 μm or smaller. In the sewage plant and skin fragment experiments, where the particles were mainly 5 μm or larger, the difference was not significant. The filters were efficient in sampling in skin fragment experiments only. With the agar impingement method, the total viable cell count showed a rising index value with increasing particle size. A mean of 13 bacteria was found per particle in the cotton mill, a mean of 24 in the sewage plant, and a mean of 147 in skin fragment experiments.