This article is a research review of a study that identified bacteria on cleanroom garments to solve the mystery of recurring low-level contamination in a facility

Smith, Laurie

English

Open Access Institutional Repository at Robert Gordon University

SMITH, L. 2023. Solving the mystery of recurring low-level contamination. Cleanroom technology, June 2023, pages 14-17.     This document was downloaded from https://openair.rgu.ac.uk Solving the mystery of recurring low-level contamination. SMITH, L. 2023 m icrobiology research Solving the mystery of recurring low level contamination This article is a research review of a study that identified bacteria on cleanroom garments to solve the mystery of recurring low level contamination in a tacili y Written by Laurie Smith F inding,s from re nlly p hliAhed research reports the identification of b ct.crial isoln s recovered from lhe surfa o ·I nroom operatives' clothing following w r within lhe cl anroom environment [ll. Dr I uri 'milh, turer in Ph rnw.c utical Sciences at Robert Gordon nive1 ity, Ab rde n plains: "The re earch forms part of a much larger t.udy, wh r ovi: a 5-ycar period the bioburden of cleanr om np rat.o ·' gu.rm nts over the user cycle including following luund ring, donning and wear, was inve-tigat.cd. This was ini ially undrrl n to addre s recurring low-level contarn in lion ev n wilhin our facilit , thought to be attributed to th• op rAior within t.h room. Th findin ~ fr m this tudy high ight the ne d or grealer in. ight. into th risk pr ntcd by operator5' and particularly Lh ir garm nts within in the ·leanroom envir nment". Operators are well est.abli hed, t h pr im ry sourc of clean room conlaminati n. \Vhilst cl anroom arm nt s are repo1'ted an effective b rri r betw n o rato1-s and tb environmen , little information xi ls on Jacterial contamination level and Lh . peci ' lh t. 14 cleanroomtechnology.com b come deposi ied on the urface of such garmenls. rly in o r r r h it b m 1 r thut reusable garments becom quickly contamin ted and host varying I v of bacteria following donning 2} und s L3l. u findings tthow Lhat. the barrier garment· th rnselv s ultimately present a cross-conlamination risk, wiLh po 11tially n t.iv · mpact. on producl it1t.cgrit.y. icTobial monitoring of opera lo ' clothing and identifica ion of recovered bacteria i crucial in undcrs~ndi g the pr bn.ble sourc and rout~s ror bacterial transfer onlo lh garm nt.s. uch know ed should allow for co ideration of interv nt.iun . L1-atcgie to I Ip to mit igate against contamination v nts, and hopefully reduce t.he risk presenled by operalor ov rail. \ it.h this in mind, we ·med to identify bact.c ,ia r overed from the surfac of ope1 tors' garments following wear[3J, with a sp~ifi obj tive to do so also with r pe ·t to gender. 'l'u chievc hi • bacteria were recovered from lh sur c ufl,olh m l and female operators' garment u. ing a dir cl agar pl L cont.ti t met od, which al lowed for a quick and inexpensive way to quantify and compare b lerial level at 7 p cific garment sites. June 2023 research microbiology ------- ------------------------------" In te rm of identification, initially we r lied on phen Lypi m thods, but found th}s Lime con urning and ubjectiv , 1 ading us to question th alidity of the r ult . ubsequenLly w r o rl,ed t-O much more robust 16S rRNA gene sequencing". nfortunntely, the budget limitcd a ompl L quanLiLively study, and identification of all isolates recovered could noL ' undcrtak n. o a ·hi v semi-quantitative approa h, 47 i lat were sel Led based on colonial morphology which proportion lly r pr senu.>d lh isolates I' cuvcre<l. quencing ccc ···fully identi 1ed 44 isol t ij to th genu. 1 v J with 36 of these ii rther identified t.o th p ·i level. Of note, thrui results con fi rmed earli r mi id L" fi c Lion u ing ph n Lypic methods at the genus level. pecies of t.aphyl · ·u , Mi rococcus and B cillus we· most commonly id .ntified, l ng with £ w r Microbactcr"um and single isolates of Dermacoccus, Koeuri and l' cnib cillus. taphylococcus and Bacillus spe<:i · w r o se rv d at imilnr pr portions irr pective o gender, wi h am re div 1·s p pulation on the surface of females' gann nts, with in 'r ased nu rs o Micrococcus, and singlea i olates observed. How v r, gr ter vari ty could be due to the greater num ber of emti op rato1·s t ted, a limitation of our tudy du to th predomin n ly female workforce. Whilst co sidering LhoA b ri originatin from operators, the mo t abu dant a es wus Mi roco u Jut u , al ngsid several specie of taphyloco u includi ng . uccinus and .cohnii. Environmentally, whi l t ingle pcci w r r cd, Bacillus speci accounted ror the majority from t hi u.rce, includin B. anth1 is, B. safensis and . pulmis. \ ,ii t mos of Lhe bact r1 identified will cause litlle harm to pati n 1 ·ving teril produ , others ar opportunis pathogen with p tcntial lo cause infecti n and disease in individu ls with low re<l immunity. Of further cone rn some Bacillus specie~ can produ spores, urviving for extended periods of time and oft n a le to vudc decontamination procedures. Our conclu ions w r Lhat durin wear cleanroom cl thing become quick ly contaminated wit both operator BBB ·ialed and envi ronm nLa l bacl ria. Most isolates were iden tified a ram-p siLive ba teria, whi h , a originally anticipated du to their abundan on Lh huma kin and Lh wid r environment. ur data r vealed t,h two thil'd r the bacterial isolates were found to originate from human kin. Whilst the m jority of these organi ar thought to riginatc from the wearer and permeal th g rm nt.l;, it l'\!tnains po 1ble chat a small proportion will a riH from other oper Lars orkin close by. The remaining bacteria w r identified ortginating from the natural environment, ~rti ·ularly soil and w re thou g t to be transferl"(,'(i in Lo Lh cl anroom via the chan ·n area and ont ~ rm enL by di r ·l Jun 2023 We identified bacteria recovered from the surface of operators' garments following wear cleanroomtechnology.com 15 June 2023 research microbiology Whilst reusable garments off er a sustainable choice over disposable alternative, there is a clear need to evaluate the magnitude of cross-contamination risk cun!Jict with contaminated surfaces or by airborn parliculat tranAmi ion within h room. There appeared to be no correlation between pe i ob rv and E,rarment sit t Htl.ld, however this would require m l"(l inv tigation lo be certain. V hilst we have confirmed that r u abl garm n a.re oontnminated , ith bacteria during wear, th r iH Hlill a lack of knowledge and published literatur evaluating th ri k pre nted by thes garments. Whilst I' l l abl garm n . om r u t.ain ble choic over d" posable alternativ , t hr i 8 cl r n d to va at the magnitude of cross-contaminat.ion risk they present within the cl , nroom environm nt. " 'o address this, we hav secured fund ing or follow on proj t that will be undertaken by a PhD stud nt. 'l'his will xaminl:! b th environm ntal cross-contamination risk of r u ble cletini· m garments to be assessed and consider gar en su. la.inability. W, hope that such knowledge will add a mall amount to t,h wid r und rstnnding amongst cleanroom industri s and pr le ional and im to increase oonfidenoe in reusable g rm nl practice". The full research paper can b ound in lh Europ an Journal of Pa enteral and Pharmuc ulicul . The authors include Dr Laurie M. milh, r Christina v s, Ur Noelle H. O' Driscoll, Prof Andrew J. Lamb l. Smi h LM, Lowes T, O'Driscoll NH, Lamb J\J, 2022. Identification of Bacterial IsolaL Reoovered from th urfi cc f leamoom Operators' Garments foll wing W, r. Europ au Journal of Parenteral and Pharmt1 uii l i nOC$, 2022;27 3). https://doi .org/10.37521/ejpp .2730 I. . mith LM, O'Driscoll H, Lamb AJ. A Compari n of th Bact rial Contamination on the urfac o 1 anroom Operators' Garments following Donning with a d without lo es. European Journal of Parenteral and Phann uUcul i nces, 2021 ;2 (3):pp. 1-1 . https://doi.org/J 0.37521} ~pps.26302. 3. mith LM, O'Driscoll NH, Lamb AJ. G nd 1· Influenc s Hactcrial Contamination of Reu · bl leanroom Ope1-aL ' Garmen following Wear. F:uropcan Jo rnal of Parenteral and Pharmace tical ie 2020· 6(2): pp.1-16. http://10.3752l/ejpps25202 www.rgu.ac.uk cleanroomtechnology.com 17 

Solving the mystery of recurring low level contamination.

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Solving the mystery of recurring low level contamination.

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