Letting the sun get inside could kill bacteria living in the dust

Researchers at the University of Oregon found that in dark rooms, an average of 12% of bacteria were alive and able to reproduce (viable). In comparison, only 6.8% of bacteria exposed to daylight and 6.1% of bacteria exposed to UV light were viable.

Dr Fahimipour said: "Human beings spend most of their time indoors, where exposure to dust particles carrying various bacteria, including pathogens that can make us sick, is inevitable, so it is important to understand how the characteristics of the buildings we occupy influence the dust ecosystems and how this could affect our health. "

Dust kept in the dark contained organisms closely related to the species associated with respiratory diseases, which were largely absent in dusts exposed to daylight.

The authors found that a lower proportion of bacteria derived from human skin and a greater proportion of bacteria derived from outdoor air lived in dust exposed to light rather than in dusts not exposed to light. the light. This may suggest that daylight makes the inner dust microbiome more closely resemble bacterial communities found on the outside.

The researchers created eleven identical, temperature controlled miniature rooms that mimicked real buildings and sowed them with dust collected in homes. The authors applied one of the three glazing treatments to the windows of the rooms so that they do not transmit any visible, ultraviolet light. After 90 days, the authors collected dust from each environment and analyzed the composition, abundance and viability of the bacteria present.

Dr. Fahimipour said, "Our study supports a hundred-year-old popular wisdom that daylight can kill microbes on dust particles, but we need more research to understand the underlying causes of changes in the microbiome of dust after exposure to light.With a better understanding, we could design access to daylight in buildings such as schools, offices, hospitals and homes in order to reduce the risks of dust infections. "

The authors point out that the miniature room environments used in the study were only exposed to a relatively narrow light dose range. Although researchers have selected light doses similar to those of most buildings, many architectural and geographic features produce lower or higher light doses that may require further study.

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