Building Design Versus Microbes

By: Melissa Saucedo

Microbes are everywhere! A recent study conducted in a hospital building showed how different methods of ventilation (mechanical and window ventilation) affected phylogenetic diversity (PD) of microbes when compared to microbe diversity found outdoors. Results showed a trend in which  PD was the highest in microbes found outdoors. Microbes found in rooms with window ventilation had intermediate PD; however, phylogeny exam showed a large similarity between microbes found outdoors to those in window ventilated rooms. Rooms with mechanical ventilation had the lowest PD and most importantly, microbes found in this rooms where largely pathogenic. This is important because it shows that ventilation systems can play a role in disease transmission in hospitals settings and at home.

Figure 1 from  Kembel et. al (2012) shows the difference in phylogenetic diversity (PD) between ventilation systems and microbes found outdoor. A significant difference was found between microbes in each setting (p<0.05).

Original article: Kembel, S.W., Jones, E., Kline, J., Northcutt, D., Stenson, J., Womack, A.M., Brendan, JM., Bohannan, Brown, G.Z., & Green, J.L. (2012). Architectural design influences the diversity and structure of the built environment microbiome. ISME Journal 6(8): 1469-1479.