Glad to see this paper on emission of bacteria by people is now available under Wiley’s “Open Access” option: Size-resolved emission rates of airborne bacteria and fungi in an occupied classroom – Qian – 2012 I am particularly glad since this one got a lot of media coverage and I think it is VERY important for …
Well, this week the target of the “how many microbes are there on ….?” question from the press is your computer and it’s mice: How Your Office Computer Mouse Carries Three Times More Germs Than A Toilet Seat | Leadership Newspapers. The obsession in the press with “how many microbes can you find on something” continues …
We’ve talked here in the past about the idea of probiotics for buildings (which is many years in the future, if ever) and pretty much everyone has heard about probiotics for human health (currently an issue of much debate). One of the problems with both buildings and people is the difficulty of testing a hypothesis …
This study came out online in February and provided a very interesting look into the role of human occupancy in relation to indoor biological aerosols. Most strikingly the authors found that millions of bacteria and fungi are added to the air in an occupied room, mostly through stirring up previously deposited organisms. Yesterday an article …
Not about microbes but there is an interesting article at Smartplanet on office environments: Office work increases toxicity in bloodstreams? | SmartPlanet. It would be interesting to see whether these people have altered microbial communities in conjunction with increased toxins.
We’ve posted in the past (here, here, here, and here) about some of the interesting work taking place at the BioBE Center regarding microbial community structure in health-care facilities. Today a paper on this topic came out in the ISME Journal. This paper is certainly worth a read for anyone interested in the microbiology of …
There has been a nasty min epidemic at a hospital in Belfast: Bacteria in baby unit traced to sink taps – The Irish Times – Wed, Jan 25, 2012. It appears to have been traced to a water tap. Just a mini reminder that we need to learn more about the biogeography of microbes in …
Well, Legionnaires disease is not pleasant by any stretch of the imagination. And this latest report is certainly a bit disturbing: Hospitals water wall source of Legionnaires Disease – Health – CBC News. But to me, the reaction to this is a bit much. According to the news story there are now two – count ’em …
Well, normally I find popular press stories about getting rid of dust and bacteria to be mostly fear mongering. But this article from WebMD (which much of the time I have complaints about) actually seems worth a look: Are Vacuum Cleaners Bad for Your Health?. The article discusses in part new work from Australian researchers on …
The Washington Post reports that Legionnaire’s bacteria found throughout Hong Kong’s new government headquarters. This article reminds me of something I have been meaning to post here previously. I think one of the best ways to get the government here in the US to think more about microbes in the built environment would be to survey …