Assessing the airborne survival of bacteria in populations of aerosol droplets with a novel technology
Assessing the airborne survival of bacteria in populations of aerosol droplets with a novel technology
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DOI：
10.1098/rsif.2018.0779
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发表时间：
2019-01-01
影响因子：
3.9
通讯作者：
Reid, Jonathan P.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Fernandez, Mara Otero;Thomas, Richard J.;Reid, Jonathan P.
感染的空气传播依赖于病原体在宿主之间的气溶胶运输中存活的能力。了解决定空气中微生物存活的参数对于减轻疾病爆发的影响至关重要。研究生物气溶胶体外寿命的传统技术存在系统性的局限性，无法准确描述这些颗粒在自然环境中所经历的条件。在这里，我们报告了一种新的方法，使生物气溶胶存活作为相关环境条件的功能的强大研究。该方法使用按需液滴技术生成具有定制化学和生物成分的生物气溶胶液滴（每次试验1至大于100个）。这些液滴阵列被捕获在一个电动陷阱中，并在一个受控的环境室中悬浮。经过所需的悬浮时间（小于5秒至大于24小时）后，液滴沉积在基板上。细菌对雾化的反应随后可以通过计数菌落形成单位来确定，在沉积后24小时。在第一项研究中，在初始半径为27.8 +/- 0.08 mm的大肠杆菌MRE162细胞悬浮液(10（8)ml(-1)）中形成液滴，并在30%的相对湿度下悬浮较长时间。存活率的时间依赖性是在延长至1小时的时间内测量的。我们证明，这种方法可以在空气生物学、大气化学和气溶胶物理学之间的界面上进行直接研究，以确定可能影响空气传播病原体生存的因素，目的是为公共卫生和生物防御应用制定感染控制策略。
The airborne transmission of infection relies on the ability of pathogens to survive aerosol transport as they transit between hosts. Understanding the parameters that determine the survival of airborne microorganisms is critical to mitigating the impact of disease outbreaks. Conventional techniques for investigating bioaerosol longevity in vitro have systemic limitations that prevent the accurate representation of conditions that these particles would experience in the natural environment. Here, we report a new approach that enables the robust study of bioaerosol survival as a function of relevant environmental conditions. The methodology uses droplet-on-demand technology for the generation of bioaerosol droplets (1 to greater than 100 per trial) with tailored chemical and biological composition. These arrays of droplets are captured in an electrodynamic trap and levitated within a controlled environmental chamber. Droplets are then deposited on a substrate after a desired levitation period (less than 5 s to greater than 24 h). The response of bacteria to aerosolization can subsequently be determined by counting colony forming units, 24 h after deposition. In a first study, droplets formed from a suspension of Escherichia coli MRE162 cells (10(8) ml(-1)) with initial radii of 27.8 +/- 0.08 mm were created and levitated for extended periods of time at 30% relative humidity. The time-dependence of the survival rate was measured over a time period extending to 1 h. We demonstrate that this approach can enable direct studies at the interface between aerobiology, atmospheric chemistry and aerosol physics to identify the factors that may affect the survival of airborne pathogens with the aim of developing infection control strategies for public health and biodefence applications.