Viability of <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> Cells in Airborne Bioaerosols on Face Masks

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a general health crisis and has irreversible impacts on human societies. Globally, all people are at risk of being exposed to the novel coronavirus through transmission of airborne bioaerosols. Public health actions, such as wearing a mask, are hig...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Eun-Hee Lee, Yunsoo Chang, Seung-Woo Lee
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	MDPI AG 2021
Materias:	woven fabric anti-droplet facepiece bioaerosol survival Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/dc696169e4cb4209951378c557d0b093
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:dc696169e4cb4209951378c557d0b093
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:dc696169e4cb4209951378c557d0b0932021-11-25T16:45:34ZViability of <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> Cells in Airborne Bioaerosols on Face Masks10.3390/atmos121114962073-4433https://doaj.org/article/dc696169e4cb4209951378c557d0b0932021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/12/11/1496https://doaj.org/toc/2073-4433The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a general health crisis and has irreversible impacts on human societies. Globally, all people are at risk of being exposed to the novel coronavirus through transmission of airborne bioaerosols. Public health actions, such as wearing a mask, are highly recommended to reduce the transmission of infectious diseases. The appropriate use of masks is necessary for effectively preventing the transmission of airborne bioaerosols. The World Health Organization (WHO) suggests washing fabric masks or throwing away disposable masks after they are used. However, people often use masks more than once without washing or disposing them. The prolonged use of a single mask might—as a result of the user habitually touching the mask—promote the spread of pathogens from airborne bioaerosols that have accumulated on the mask. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate how long the living components of bioaerosols can be viable on the masks. Here, we evaluated the viability of airborne <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> (<i>B. subtilis</i>) in bioaerosols filtered on woven and anti-droplet (non-woven) face masks. As a simulation of being simultaneously exposed to sand dust and bioaerosols, the viability rates of bioaerosols that had accumulated on masks were also tested against fine dust and airborne droplets containing bacteria. The bioaerosols survived on the masks immediately after the masks were used to filter the bioaerosols, and the bacteria significantly proliferated after one day of storage. Thereafter, the number of viable cells in the filtered bioaerosols gradually decreased over time, and the viability of <i>B. subtilis</i> in bioaerosols on the masks varied, depending on the mask material used (woven or non-woven). Despite the reduction in viability, bioaerosols containing living components were still found in both woven and anti-droplet masks even after six days of storage and it took nine days not to have found them on masks. The number of viable cells in bioaerosols on masks significantly decreased upon exposure of the masks to fine dust. The results of this study should provide useful information on how to appropriately use masks to increase their duration of effectiveness against bioaerosols.Eun-Hee LeeYunsoo ChangSeung-Woo LeeMDPI AGarticlewovenfabricanti-dropletfacepiecebioaerosolsurvivalMeteorology. ClimatologyQC851-999ENAtmosphere, Vol 12, Iss 1496, p 1496 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	woven fabric anti-droplet facepiece bioaerosol survival Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999
spellingShingle	woven fabric anti-droplet facepiece bioaerosol survival Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 Eun-Hee Lee Yunsoo Chang Seung-Woo Lee Viability of <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> Cells in Airborne Bioaerosols on Face Masks
description	The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a general health crisis and has irreversible impacts on human societies. Globally, all people are at risk of being exposed to the novel coronavirus through transmission of airborne bioaerosols. Public health actions, such as wearing a mask, are highly recommended to reduce the transmission of infectious diseases. The appropriate use of masks is necessary for effectively preventing the transmission of airborne bioaerosols. The World Health Organization (WHO) suggests washing fabric masks or throwing away disposable masks after they are used. However, people often use masks more than once without washing or disposing them. The prolonged use of a single mask might—as a result of the user habitually touching the mask—promote the spread of pathogens from airborne bioaerosols that have accumulated on the mask. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate how long the living components of bioaerosols can be viable on the masks. Here, we evaluated the viability of airborne <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> (<i>B. subtilis</i>) in bioaerosols filtered on woven and anti-droplet (non-woven) face masks. As a simulation of being simultaneously exposed to sand dust and bioaerosols, the viability rates of bioaerosols that had accumulated on masks were also tested against fine dust and airborne droplets containing bacteria. The bioaerosols survived on the masks immediately after the masks were used to filter the bioaerosols, and the bacteria significantly proliferated after one day of storage. Thereafter, the number of viable cells in the filtered bioaerosols gradually decreased over time, and the viability of <i>B. subtilis</i> in bioaerosols on the masks varied, depending on the mask material used (woven or non-woven). Despite the reduction in viability, bioaerosols containing living components were still found in both woven and anti-droplet masks even after six days of storage and it took nine days not to have found them on masks. The number of viable cells in bioaerosols on masks significantly decreased upon exposure of the masks to fine dust. The results of this study should provide useful information on how to appropriately use masks to increase their duration of effectiveness against bioaerosols.
format	article
author	Eun-Hee Lee Yunsoo Chang Seung-Woo Lee
author_facet	Eun-Hee Lee Yunsoo Chang Seung-Woo Lee
author_sort	Eun-Hee Lee
title	Viability of <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> Cells in Airborne Bioaerosols on Face Masks
title_short	Viability of <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> Cells in Airborne Bioaerosols on Face Masks
title_full	Viability of <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> Cells in Airborne Bioaerosols on Face Masks
title_fullStr	Viability of <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> Cells in Airborne Bioaerosols on Face Masks
title_full_unstemmed	Viability of <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> Cells in Airborne Bioaerosols on Face Masks
title_sort	viability of <i>bacillus subtilis</i> cells in airborne bioaerosols on face masks
publisher	MDPI AG
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/dc696169e4cb4209951378c557d0b093
work_keys_str_mv	AT eunheelee viabilityofibacillussubtilisicellsinairbornebioaerosolsonfacemasks AT yunsoochang viabilityofibacillussubtilisicellsinairbornebioaerosolsonfacemasks AT seungwoolee viabilityofibacillussubtilisicellsinairbornebioaerosolsonfacemasks
_version_	1718413047472586752

Viability of <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> Cells in Airborne Bioaerosols on Face Masks

Ejemplares similares