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Volume 170, Issue 1

An assessment of the airborne longevity of group A Streptococcus Open Access

Graphical Abstract

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Abstract

Group A streptococcus (GAS) infections result in more than 500 000 deaths annually. Despite mounting evidence for airborne transmission of GAS, little is known about its stability in aerosol. Measurements of GAS airborne stability were carried out using the Controlled Electrodynamic Levitation and Extraction of Bioaerosols onto a Substrate (CELEBS) instrument. CELEBS measurements with two different isolates of GAS suggest that it is aerostable, with approximately 70 % of bacteria remaining viable after 20 min of levitation at 50 % relative humidity (RH), with lower survival as RH was reduced. GAS airborne viability loss was driven primarily by desiccation and efflorescence (i.e. salt crystallization), with high pH also potentially playing a role, given reduced survival in bicarbonate containing droplet compositions. At low enough RH for efflorescence to occur, a greater proportion of organic components in the droplet appeared to protect the bacteria from efflorescence. These first insights into the aerosol stability of GAS indicate that airborne transmission of these respiratory tract bacteria may occur, and that both the composition of the droplet containing the bacteria, and the RH of the air affect the duration of bacterial survival in this environment. Future studies will explore a broader range of droplet and air compositions and include a larger selection of GAS strains.

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  • Accepted:
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Keyword(s): aerosol , airborne , droplet , group A streptococcus and transmission
Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases
    • Principle Award Recipient: AnuGoenka
© 2024 The Authors
  • This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. This article was made open access via a Publish and Read agreement between the Microbiology Society and the corresponding author’s institution.
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2024-01-05
2024-05-19
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An assessment of the airborne longevity of group A Streptococcus
Microbiology 170, 001421 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.001421
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.001421
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.001421
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