New papers on microbiology of the built environment, January 18, 2016

New papers from the past week on the interactions between humans, buildings, and microbes. Microbes in buildings  Comprehensive analysis of the skin fungal microbiota of astronauts during a half-year stay at the International Space Station – Takashi Sugita – Medical Mycology ($$) The International Space Station (ISS) is a huge manned construct located approximately 400 km …

More than just a fingerprint-our microbes are efficient hotel “cleaners,” too!

Think hotel rooms are gross?  An elegant study led by Jack Gilbert, published Thursday in Science Reports, suggests that our resident microbes could help ease our minds on this issue, as they very quickly populate hotel rooms (and houses, more on that below) to make our hotels microbiologically identical to our homes within 24 hours. …

Update: Marriott in Chicago identifies possible source of Legionnaires outbreak

Quick update: A few days ago I wrote about a Legionnaires outbreak in Chicago at the Marrioott hotel: Time for hotels to start surveying their microbes. CNN is reporting that the hotel has identified a putative source for the Legionella bacterium that causes Legionnaires: the fountain in the lobby and/or a spa:  Chicago hotel shuts fountain, …

Time for hotels to start surveying their microbes #Legionnaires #Chicago #Marriott

Well, I wonder if this will get Marriott Corporation more involved in microbial studies in the indoor environment: Legionnaires’ disease outbreak kills 2 at Chicago hotel – CNN.com.  Seems that there has been Legionella lurking around somewhere in the JW Marriott hotel in Chicago.  The outbreak has led the hotel to drain all major standing water …

Bedbugs are certainly unpleasant – but what should we think about reports of finding antibiotic resistance bacteria in them? #microBEnet

Some news agencies have recently been reporting that bedbugs may be doing something even more unpleasant than their normal unpleasantries.  Many news sources are reporting on recent information from a Canadian group that looked at what microbes were found in bedbugs in one area.  And what they found was pretty nasty.  Basically, the deal is …