New papers on Microbiology of the Built Environment, January 7, 2017

Microbes around the house Editorial: An emerging paradox: Toward a better understanding of the potential benefits and adversity of microbe exposures in the indoor environment – J. Mensah-Attipoe – Indoor Air (OA) In order to further explore indoor microbial exposures and their associated health effects, and to help establish research agenda priorities, a two-day workshop to …

Upcoming National Academies Study on Legionella in Drinking Water Systems

Just got this from the a representative of the National Academy of Sciences who asked me to post here. UPDATED June 13, 2017 (based on email from NAS) Scope of work: An ad hoc committee of The National Academies will review the state of science with respect to Legionella contamination of water systems and issue …

Rapid biophotonic detection of Legionella?

Quick post here (h/t to Paula Olsiewski for the link) about a cool-sounding new device for the rapid detection of Legionella.   I can’t say that I’m on board with the fanciful claims made in the press release (e.g. “The risk of catching fatal Legionnaires’ disease from air conditioning units has been dramatically reduced“) but the …

New papers on Microbiology of the Built Environment, September 10, 2016

Studying the 5 second rule, antibiotic resistance genes in indoor dust and sewers, Legionella in the air, and water treatment. Microbes on the floor Longer Contact Times Increase Cross-Contamination of Enterobacter aerogenes from Surfaces to Food — Robyn C. Miranda — Applied and Environmental Microbiology ($25 for 1 day) Bacterial cross-contamination from surfaces to food can …

New papers on microbiology of the built environment, July 31, 2016

Microbes in the air High throughput genomic sequencing of bioaerosols in broiler chicken production facilities – Kate M. O’Brien – Microbial Biotechnology (OA) Chronic inhalation exposure to agricultural dust promotes the development of chronic respiratory diseases among poultry workers. Poultry dust is composed of dander, chicken feed, litter bedding and microbes. However, the microbial composition …

New papers on microbiology of the built environment, May 8, 2016

Happy Mother’s Day! Here are your new papers on microbes of the built environment. Microbes in the house Assessment of Bacterial Communities in Thirteen Species of Laboratory-Cultured Domestic Mites (Acari: Acaridida) – Jan Hubert – Journal of Economic Entomology (WTH $39 for 1 day) House dust mites (HDMs) and stored-product mites (SPMs) of various species …

Interesting new paper on green building water systems  

There is a new open access paper of possible interest to those working on water systems, green buildings, and/or microbial ecology: Survey of green building water systems reveals elevated water age and water quality concerns – Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology (RSC Publishing) DOI:10.1039/C5EW00221D By William J. Rhoads, Amy Pruden and Marc A. Edwards in Environmental …

Legionnaires’ Disease Outbreak in Flint, Michigan

(Update:  after posting this I found that actual experts have proposed a different hypothesis) So the recent Legionnaires’ Disease Outbreak in Flint, Michigan has been getting quite a bit of press recently.   For example in the last few days here are pieces from The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and CNN. The very short version of …

New papers on microbiology of the built environment, December 7, 2015

What’s new in the intersection of microbiology and human use of the environment? Here are some recent papers and their abstracts. The first paper is important because it describes the microbiological conditions of the waters that will be used in the 2016 Olympics: Environmental and Sanitary Conditions of Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro – Giovana …