Abstract
This study extends probiotic cleaning research to a built environment. Through an eight-month cleaning trial, we compared the effect of three cleaning products (disinfectant, plain soap, and a probiotic cleaner containing a patented Bacillus spore consortium), and tap water as the control, on the resident microbiome of three common hospital surfaces (linoleum, ceramic, and stainless steel). Pathogens, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, were deposited and desiccated, and competitive exclusion was assessed for each microbiome. Cell survival was shown to be an incomplete tool for measuring microbial competitive exclusion. Biofilm competition offered a fuller understanding of competitive dynamics. A test for culturable cell survival showed that both plain soap and probiotic cleaner regimes established a surface microbiome that outcompeted the two pathogens. A different picture emerged when observing biofilms with a deposited and desiccated GFP-labeled pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Competitive exclusion was again demonstrated. On surfaces cleaned with disinfectant the pathogen outcompeted the microbiomes. On surfaces cleaned with plain soap, the microbiomes outcompeted the pathogen. However, on surfaces cleaned with probiotic cleaner, despite the exponentially higher surface microbial loads, the microbiome did not completely outcompete the pathogen. Thus, the standard culturable cell test for survival on a surface confirmed the competitive advantage that is typically reported for probiotic cleaners. However, observation of competition in biofilms showed that the more diverse microbiome (according to alpha and beta indices) established on a surface cleaned with plain soap had a better competitive advantage than the monoculture established by the probiotic cleaner. Therefore, microbial diversity appears to be as critical to the competitive exclusion principle as cell numbers. The study showed that both plain soap and probiotic cleaner fostered competitive exclusion far more effectively than disinfectant. Probiotic cleaners with microbial diversity could be worth considering for hospital cleaning.
Highlights
The link between ecological diversity and environmental balance is evident at all levels of life
Microbial diversity and competitive exclusion were assessed by exploring the interactions of the desiccated pathogens with the resident surface microbiomes
Resident microbiomes were established on surfaces exposed to distinct cleaning regimes, on three surface materials, placed indoors and outMdicorooorrsg.anAismftse2r02e0i,g8h, xt months of cleaning, the resident microbiome of each surface was asses7soefd19for cell concentration and diversity
Summary
The link between ecological diversity and environmental balance is evident at all levels of life. On a global scale, such imbalances lead to plagues and ecological collapse. Understanding the effects of pathogen proliferation can inform approaches to human health and can be applied to environmental health policy. Since human and ecological health are interconnected, not independent, good hygiene policy connects inwards with microbiome health and outwards with environmental health. Hospitals are a interesting biome, in terms of microbial diversity and homeostasis. Research has explored the spatial and temporal patterns of nosocomial infections [4,5] and the way hospitals try to control them with increasingly aggressive disinfection regimes and antimicrobial agents [6]. Antibiotics have lulled people into relying on medicine to rectify imbalances, the crisis of drug-resistant pathogens [7]. Too often today’s approach to ecology is a reaction to catastrophe rather than the stewardship and harnessing of natural systems
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