Microbiomes of the Built Environment A Research Agenda for Indoor Microbiology, Human Health, and Buildings (2017) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 15-30
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From page 15... ...
. The relevant microbial communities are found not only in the occu ied spaces of built environments but also in indoor infrastructure, such as premise plumb p ing and ventilation ductwork, as well as in "unconditioned" indoor spaces, such as crawl spaces.
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STUDY FOCUS AND SCOPE Microorganisms can impact the built environment and its occupants in a variety of ways. One of the key motivators for studying microbial communities of the built environment is to learn more about how microorganisms and their products affect human health.
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The committee will: • ssess what is currently known about the complex interactions among A microbial communities, humans, and built environments, and their rela tionship to indoor environmental quality. Where knowledge is adequate, summarize implications for built environment design and operations and human health.
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Occupants may span a range of ages, physical conditions, and overall health status, and occupant densities and occupancy characteristics can change over time. As the field moves closer to practice and to developing guidance on how indoor microorganisms affect health and how building factors affect these indoor microbiomes, it will also be important to consider challenges facing residents living in poor housing stock and of lower socioeconomic status, who may have less control over environmental conditions, may not be able to improve their residences, or may need information and resources to address indoor microbiome–built environment issues.
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They are carried on and arise from living creatures that inhabit the environment, including human occupants, pets, plants, and pests, each of which has its own associated microbial communities. A simplified representation of the ecosystem built around these interactions among humans, the indoor environment, and indoor microorganisms is depicted
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For example, indoor building structures other than heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) and plumbing systems and the outdoor environment beyond a building site may affect indoor microbiomes, as may building operation and maintenance practices that affect indoor building and building system conditions.
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Examples of microbial inflows and outflows in a highly simplified built environment are depicted in Figure 1-2. As this simplified figure shows, microorganisms can enter a built environment from the outside through • ventilation, such as through open doors and windows or through HVAC systems; • through building water supply and premise plumbing systems through evaporation or aerosolization; • infiltration, which includes moisture seepage or air leakage; and 2 These dynamics generally refer to the processes that affect the composition, persistence, and proliferation of microbial communities.
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Within the built environment, microorganisms can increase as a result of • growth and replication if the environment has the right nutrients, water, and conditions for reproduction; and • shedding from humans and other living occupants, each of which has its own associated microbiomes. Microorganisms can leave the built environment through • microbial death, although nonliving and dormant microbes and microbial fragments may remain; • water via premise plumbing systems; • air exfiltration and moisture seepage; • outward transport by natural or mechanical ventilation;
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This relationship has two implications. First, it is important to note that microbial communities encompass not only viable microbes but also dormant microorganisms, as well as microbial fragments, which may play a role in impacting human health.
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Unless there is complete mixing with an external environment, adaptation to local conditions in the built environment via natural selection can occur. These factors can be repeated over the many species that make up microbial communities in built environments.
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For instance, a rich microbiome may be maintained in a school by the constant influx of microbes from students enter ing and leaving during the school year, but this community may decay over the quiescent summer break. Looking at the variables that form the basis for population models leads to a number of questions that need to be answered to better understand how microbial communities in built environments form and function: • here do the colonists come from?
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PRIOR EFFORTS ON WHICH THIS REPORT BUILDS Research into the microbial populations associated with different built environments and the health effects of exposure to these microorganisms extends back for decades. In the public health community, many investigations have focused on how pathogens infect occupants within a building.
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In-depth studies to explore the connections among microbial communities, different environmental conditions in built environments, and such outcomes as health or illness need to integrate expertise from microbial ecology, building and building system design and operation, epidemiology and human health, materials science, and a number of other fields. During
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It explores the transport of microorganisms into and within buildings associated with air, water, and surfaces and the influence of such factors as occupants and climate, and it concludes by identifying knowledge gaps in these areas. Chapter 4 reviews tools and methods for studying the nexus of buildings, microbial communities, and human occupants, including tools with which to sample and characterize built environments and the microbial communities within them and approaches for studying health effects.
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2001. The National Human Activity Pattern Survey (NHAPS)
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2016. What have we learned about the microbiomes of indoor environments?
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