Evaluation of water treatments on surfaces to inhibit bacterial spore resuspension

Abstract

AbstractThe impact of water and the wet–dry cycle was examined as a potential mitigation solution to pathogenic bacterial spore transport and inhalation risk via resuspension of spores from surfaces due to human activities. In this study, a fine mist of water was distributed onto a hydrophilic surface to represent conditions during a dew cycle or fog. Resuspension experiments were conducted on clean and dusty surfaces while they were wet and after drying. These resuspension results were directly compared to surfaces that had not been subjected to any surface water treatment to determine an absolute resuspension rate reduction ratio that could be treated as independent of resuspension technique. A minimum of a 3‐log reduction in resuspension was observed for dusty wet coupons and a maximum reduction of 4‐logs was observed after the clean coupons had dried. Water treatments have been demonstrated to inhibit spore resuspension under certain laboratory conditions while under an air‐generated shear stress similar in magnitude to shear forces generated by human interaction. This research has demonstrated that treating surfaces with water to inhibit spore resuspension could be a valuable tool in exposure minimization and remediation after a bioterrorism event.