1981 Volume 36 Issue 4 Pages 718-724
Airborne staphylococci (A.S.) dispersed in a poorly ventilated model laboratory by healthy volunteers were investigated in order to compare their biological types and biological characteristics with those of resident staphylococci (R.S.) isolated from the bodies and clothing of the same subjects. The results obtained are as follows.
1. Bacteria in the air include a large proportion staphylococci in comparison with the numbers found in the sediment on the floor.
2. The distribution of A.S. into the biological-type subgroups proposed by Baird-Parker (1962, 1963) significantly differed from that for R.S.
3. With the exception of R.S. isolated from hair, there was not significant difference between A.S. and R.S. as measured by the anaerobic mannitol fermentation test.
However, positive A.S. rates were significantly lower in the coagulase and compact-type colony formation tests when compared with those for R.S. collected from the nose. The positive rates of A.S. were higher for the DNase and lysozyme tests than R.S. from any part of the bodies of the human subjects.
The results suggest that changes in biological characteristics as well as biological types of staphylococci dispersed from human bodies in the air are caused by environmental changes.
