It sounds so nice and catchy. Priobiotics for buildings. We have written about it here are few times
- Probiotics for buildings in action? Interesting but can’t verify
- Probiotics for buildings: A potential future application of current work on microbes in buildings
Though I have not found any published science behind this movement there is more and more out there on it. See for example:
- Pro-B Air – For Life: For a Cleaner Building Environment
- Better Air Uses Probiotics To Clean Air We Breathe | Environment …
- Could you clean your air with probiotics?
And other places. The most recent I have seen is Better Air Cleans Sick Buildings With Probiotics | Green Prophet. which in addition to discussing the company “Better Air” also links to a Youtube video from the company:
http://www.youtube.com/v/N3zvZb8S9Vc&rel=0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3
I think all of these stories and blog posts are based in the end on some press releases from this one company but I would be interested to know if there are any other companies out there considered making probiotics for buildings. I would also be VERY interested to know if anyone has bought any of these “systems”.
There is an Italian group working on something similar. They use Bacillus spores as a “probiotic” (not sure if that is an appropriate term), to seed hospital surfaces. The most recent study from that group was mentioned here: https://microbe.net/2016/02/20/new-papers-february-20-2016/
Impact of a Probiotic-Based Cleaning Intervention on the Microbiota Ecosystem of the Hospital Surfaces: Focus on the Resistome Remodulation – Elisabetta Caselli – PLOS ONE, 2016
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0148857
Hard Surface Biocontrol in Hospitals Using Microbial-Based Cleaning Products – Alberta Vandini – PLOS ONE, 2014
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0108598
Note that it is probably not a smart idea to use Bacillus spores in an environment with immunocompromised patients. See this critical article:
Is deliberately seeding hospital rooms with Bacillus spores a good idea? No, I don’t think so either! – Jon Otter – Micro Blog
http://www.micro-blog.info/2014/12/is-deliberately-seeding-hospital-rooms-with-bacillus-spores-a-good-idea-no-i-dont-think-so-either/