Liebers Verena, Bachmann Dieter, Franke Gabriele, Freundt Susanne, Stubel Heike, Düser Maria, Kendzia Benjamin, Böckler Margret, Brüning Thomas, Raulf Monika
Institut für Prävention und Arbeitsmedizin der Deutschen Gesetzlichen Unfallversicherung, Institut der Ruhr-Universität Bochum (IPA), Germany.
Berufsgenossenschaft Energie Textil Elektro Medienerzeugnisse (BG ETEM), Präventionsabteilung, Köln, Germany.
Int J Hyg Environ Health. 2015 Mar;218(2):246-53. doi: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2014.11.004. Epub 2014 Dec 6.
Air humidifier water tanks are potential sources of microbial contaminants. Aerosolization of these contaminants is associated with the development of airway and lung diseases; therefore, implementation of preventive strategies including monitoring of the microbial contamination is recommended. So far, culture-based methods that include measuring colony forming units (CFU) are widely used to monitor microbial load. However, these methods are time consuming and have considerable drawbacks. As a result, alternative methods are needed which provide not only clear and accurate results concerning microbial load in water samples, but are also rapid and easy to use in the field. This paper reports on a rapid test for ATP quantification as an alternative method for microbial monitoring, including its implementation, validation and application in the field. For this purpose, 186 water samples were characterized with different methods, which included ATP analysis, culture-based methods, endotoxin activity (common and rapid test), pyrogenic activity and number of particles. Half of the samples was measured directly in the field and the other half one day later in the laboratory. The results of both tests are highly correlated. Furthermore, to check how representative the result from one sample of a water source is, a second sample of the same water tank were collected and measured. Bioluminescence results of the undiluted samples covered a range between 20 and 25,000 relative light units (RLU) and correlated with the results obtained using the other methods. The highest correlation was found between bioluminescence and endotoxin activity (rs=0.79) as well as pyrogenic activity (rs=0.75). Overall, the results of this study indicate that ATP measurement using bioluminescence is a suitable tool to obtain rapid, reproducible and sensitive information on the microbial load of water samples, and is suitable to use in the field. However, to use ATP measurement as an indicator of water quality, criteria of assessment has to be discussed.
空气加湿器水箱是微生物污染物的潜在来源。这些污染物的雾化与气道和肺部疾病的发生有关；因此，建议实施包括监测微生物污染在内的预防策略。到目前为止，基于培养的方法（包括测量菌落形成单位（CFU））被广泛用于监测微生物负荷。然而，这些方法耗时且有相当多的缺点。因此，需要替代方法，这些方法不仅能提供有关水样中微生物负荷的清晰准确结果，而且在现场使用时快速且易于操作。本文报道了一种用于ATP定量的快速检测方法，作为微生物监测的替代方法，包括其在现场的实施、验证和应用。为此，用不同方法对186个水样进行了表征，这些方法包括ATP分析、基于培养的方法、内毒素活性（常规和快速检测）、热原活性和颗粒数量。一半的样品在现场直接测量，另一半在一天后在实验室测量。两次测试的结果高度相关。此外，为了检查水源的一个样品的结果具有多大代表性，收集并测量了同一水箱的第二个样品。未稀释样品的生物发光结果在20至25000相对光单位（RLU）之间，与使用其他方法获得的结果相关。生物发光与内毒素活性（rs = 0.79）以及热原活性（rs = 0.75）之间的相关性最高。总体而言，本研究结果表明，使用生物发光进行ATP测量是获取有关水样微生物负荷的快速、可重复和敏感信息的合适工具，适用于现场使用。然而，要将ATP测量用作水质指标，必须讨论评估标准。
