A loophole in soap dispensers mediates contamination with Gram‐negative bacteria

Abstract Liquid soap dispensers are widely used in domestic and clinical settings. In previous studies, the risk of bacterial contamination of refillable systems was pointed out and a bacterial contamination rate of 25%, with values of up to 108 colony‐forming units/mL (CFU/mL), was reported. Howeve...

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Main Authors: Ralf Lucassen, Nicole vanLeuven, Dirk Bockmühl
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2023-10-01
Series:MicrobiologyOpen
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/mbo3.1384
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author Ralf Lucassen
Nicole vanLeuven
Dirk Bockmühl
author_facet Ralf Lucassen
Nicole vanLeuven
Dirk Bockmühl
author_sort Ralf Lucassen
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Liquid soap dispensers are widely used in domestic and clinical settings. In previous studies, the risk of bacterial contamination of refillable systems was pointed out and a bacterial contamination rate of 25%, with values of up to 108 colony‐forming units/mL (CFU/mL), was reported. However, the route of contamination remains elusive. To address this point, we determined the microbial contamination of refillable standard pump dispensers and nonrefillable press‐dispenser systems. Following the collection of 104 liquid soap dispensers from hotel rooms across Germany, bacterial counts were determined. Isolates of samples containing nonfastidious Gram‐negative(lac−) bacteria were further analyzed by the Vitek 2 system for the determination of species. 70.2% of the refillable pump dispensers (mean total bacterial count = 2.2 × 105 CFU/mL) but only 10.6% of the nonrefillable press dispensers, were contaminated (mean total bacterial count = 1.5 × 101 CFU/mL). Of samples containing nonfastidious Gram‐negative(lac−) bacteria, Pluralibacter gergoviae was present in 41.7%, Pseudomonads (Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Pseudomonas putida) in 25%, Serratia marcescens in 16.7%, and Klebsiella oxytoca and Pasteurella testudinis in 8.3%. After the initial assessment, we contaminated different dispensing systems with P. aeruginosa/P. gergoviae, to reveal the route of contamination and identied the pressure release of standard pump dispensers as the loophole for microbial contamination.
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spelling doaj.art-35d9d01f2e4b4bbab8e38b7e31491b262023-10-25T12:16:30ZengWileyMicrobiologyOpen2045-88272023-10-01125n/an/a10.1002/mbo3.1384A loophole in soap dispensers mediates contamination with Gram‐negative bacteriaRalf Lucassen0Nicole vanLeuven1Dirk Bockmühl2Faculty of Life Sciences Rhine Waal University of Applied Sciences Kleve GermanyFaculty of Life Sciences Rhine Waal University of Applied Sciences Kleve GermanyFaculty of Life Sciences Rhine Waal University of Applied Sciences Kleve GermanyAbstract Liquid soap dispensers are widely used in domestic and clinical settings. In previous studies, the risk of bacterial contamination of refillable systems was pointed out and a bacterial contamination rate of 25%, with values of up to 108 colony‐forming units/mL (CFU/mL), was reported. However, the route of contamination remains elusive. To address this point, we determined the microbial contamination of refillable standard pump dispensers and nonrefillable press‐dispenser systems. Following the collection of 104 liquid soap dispensers from hotel rooms across Germany, bacterial counts were determined. Isolates of samples containing nonfastidious Gram‐negative(lac−) bacteria were further analyzed by the Vitek 2 system for the determination of species. 70.2% of the refillable pump dispensers (mean total bacterial count = 2.2 × 105 CFU/mL) but only 10.6% of the nonrefillable press dispensers, were contaminated (mean total bacterial count = 1.5 × 101 CFU/mL). Of samples containing nonfastidious Gram‐negative(lac−) bacteria, Pluralibacter gergoviae was present in 41.7%, Pseudomonads (Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Pseudomonas putida) in 25%, Serratia marcescens in 16.7%, and Klebsiella oxytoca and Pasteurella testudinis in 8.3%. After the initial assessment, we contaminated different dispensing systems with P. aeruginosa/P. gergoviae, to reveal the route of contamination and identied the pressure release of standard pump dispensers as the loophole for microbial contamination.https://doi.org/10.1002/mbo3.1384biofilmcontaminationliquid soapPluralibacter gergoviaePseudomonas aeruginosapump dispenser
spellingShingle Ralf Lucassen
Nicole vanLeuven
Dirk Bockmühl
A loophole in soap dispensers mediates contamination with Gram‐negative bacteria
MicrobiologyOpen
biofilm
contamination
liquid soap
Pluralibacter gergoviae
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
pump dispenser
title A loophole in soap dispensers mediates contamination with Gram‐negative bacteria
title_full A loophole in soap dispensers mediates contamination with Gram‐negative bacteria
title_fullStr A loophole in soap dispensers mediates contamination with Gram‐negative bacteria
title_full_unstemmed A loophole in soap dispensers mediates contamination with Gram‐negative bacteria
title_short A loophole in soap dispensers mediates contamination with Gram‐negative bacteria
title_sort loophole in soap dispensers mediates contamination with gram negative bacteria
topic biofilm
contamination
liquid soap
Pluralibacter gergoviae
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
pump dispenser
url https://doi.org/10.1002/mbo3.1384
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AT dirkbockmuhl aloopholeinsoapdispensersmediatescontaminationwithgramnegativebacteria
AT ralflucassen loopholeinsoapdispensersmediatescontaminationwithgramnegativebacteria
AT nicolevanleuven loopholeinsoapdispensersmediatescontaminationwithgramnegativebacteria
AT dirkbockmuhl loopholeinsoapdispensersmediatescontaminationwithgramnegativebacteria