Nice study by Norm Pace’s group looking at microbes present in the air in New York City subway systems. They didn’t find any organisms of public health concern, and showed that the ventilation and mixing of outside air appear to work well. This work does provide an important baseline of data for evaluating the effects of a subsequent perturbation such as a bioterrrist attack or a natural disaster.
@phylogenomics In other words, don’t worry about pathogens; it’s the GIANT SUBWAY RATS you have to look out for ;P
RT @phylogenomics: New post at #microBEnet Culture-Independent Analysis of Aerosol Microbiology in a subway http://t.co/xS5ZmzIucY
New at #microBEnet: Culture-Independent Analysis of Aerosol Microbiology in a Metropolitan Subway System: Nice… http://t.co/7AKYFQiURe
New at #microBEnet: Culture-Independent Analysis of Aerosol Microbiology in a Metropolitan Subway System: Nice… http://t.co/4Yxgo80b5w
ASM now has a story on the subway microbes article — see http://www.asm.org/index.php/asm-newsroom/journal-tip-sheets/88-news-room/journal-tipsheets/91650-the-microbes-you-inhale-on-the-new-york-city-subway