| Title |
Characterization and Control of the Microbial Community Affiliated with Copper or Aluminum Heat Exchangers of HVAC Systems
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Current Microbiology, May 2012
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s00284-012-0137-0 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Michael G. Schmidt, Hubert H. Attaway, Silva Terzieva, Anna Marshall, Lisa L. Steed, Deborah Salzberg, Hameed A. Hamoodi, Jamil A. Khan, Charles E. Feigley, Harold. T. Michels |
| Abstract |
Microbial growth in heating ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems with the subsequent contamination of indoor air is of increasing concern. Microbes and the subsequent biofilms grow easily within heat exchangers. A comparative study where heat exchangers fabricated from antimicrobial copper were evaluated for their ability to limit microbial growth was conducted using a full-scale HVAC system under conditions of normal flow rates using single-pass outside air. Resident bacterial and fungal populations were quantitatively assessed by removing triplicate sets of coupons from each exchanger commencing the fourth week after their installation for the next 30 weeks. The intrinsic biofilm associated with each coupon was extracted and characterized using selective and differential media. The predominant organisms isolated from aluminum exchangers were species of Methylobacterium of which at least three colony morphologies and 11 distinct PFGE patterns we found; of the few bacteria isolated from the copper exchangers, the majority were species of Bacillus. The concentrations and type of bacteria recovered from the control, aluminum, exchangers were found to be dependent on the type of plating media used and were 11,411-47,257 CFU cm(-2) per coupon surface. The concentration of fungi was found to average 378 CFU cm(-2). Significantly lower concentrations of bacteria, 3 CFU cm(-2), and fungi, 1 CFU cm(-2), were recovered from copper exchangers regardless of the plating media used. Commonly used aluminum heat exchangers developed stable, mixed, bacterial/fungal biofilms in excess of 47,000 organisms per cm(2) within 4 weeks of operation, whereas the antimicrobial properties of metallic copper were able to limit the microbial load affiliated with the copper heat exchangers to levels 99.97 % lower during the same time period. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 3 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 2 | 67% |
| United Kingdom | 1 | 33% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 3 | 100% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 73 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 2 | 3% |
| Portugal | 1 | 1% |
| Poland | 1 | 1% |
| Unknown | 69 | 95% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Researcher | 19 | 26% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 10 | 14% |
| Other | 6 | 8% |
| Student > Bachelor | 6 | 8% |
| Student > Master | 5 | 7% |
| Other | 13 | 18% |
| Unknown | 14 | 19% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 15 | 21% |
| Engineering | 10 | 14% |
| Environmental Science | 6 | 8% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 4 | 5% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 4 | 5% |
| Other | 15 | 21% |
| Unknown | 19 | 26% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 15. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 21 February 2021.
All research outputs
#2,068,685
of 22,747,498 outputs
Outputs from Current Microbiology
#36
of 2,405 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#13,329
of 163,625 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Current Microbiology
#1
of 14 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,747,498 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 90th percentile: it's in the top 10% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 2,405 research outputs from this source. They receive a mean Attention Score of 3.2. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 14 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 92% of its contemporaries.