ArticleEnvironmental microbiology2017
Air pollution alters Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae biofilms, antibiotic tolerance and colonisation.
Article in Environmental microbiology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Understanding the effect of indoor air pollution on pneumonia in children under 5 in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review of evidence.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2019Pooled it
- Genomic and Phenotypic Classification of Staphylococcus Species Isolated From Delhi Air.Environmental microbiology reports · 2026Article
- Early Environments, Lasting Effects: Air Pollution, Microbes, and Respiratory Infection Risk in Children.Pediatric pulmonology · 2026Review
- Black carbon emissions in Jordan: national inventory, climate and health implications (2022-2050).Environmental research communications · 2025Article
- Article
- Viability studies of bacterial strains exposed to nitrogen oxides and light in controlled atmospheric conditions.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Air pollution modifies colonisation factors in beneficial symbiont Snodgrassella and disrupts the bumblebee gut microbiome.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2025Article
- Sub-inhibitory concentrations of tetrabromobisphenol A induce the biofilm formation of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.Archives of microbiology · 2024Article
- Raman Flow Cytometry and Its Biomedical Applications.Biosensors · 2024Review
- An In Vitro Model to Assess Early Immune Markers Following Co-Exposure of Epithelial Cells to Carbon Black (Nano)Particles in the Presence ofBiomedicines · 2024Article
- Ambient Anthropogenic Carbons and Pediatric Respiratory Infections: A Case-Crossover Analysis in the Megacity Beijing.GeoHealth · 2023Article
- Airborne fine particles drive H1N1 viruses deep into the lower respiratory tract and distant organs.Science advances · 2023Article
- Air pollution and respiratory infections: the past, present, and future.Toxicological sciences : an official journal of the Society of Toxicology · 2023Review
- Analysis of Bacterial Biofilm Formation andJournal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Air pollution induces Staphylococcus aureus USA300 respiratory tract colonization mediated by specific bacterial genetic responses involving the global virulence gene regulators Agr and Sae.Environmental microbiology · 2022Article
- Indoor Household Exposures and Associated Morbidity and Mortality Outcomes in Children and Adults in South Africa.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Review
- Antimicrobial Resistance Development Pathways in Surface Waters and Public Health Implications.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Traffic pollution tracers in the lymphatic system tissue of children-possible link to chronic tonsillitis development: pilot study.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2022Article
- Influence of sex, season and environmental air quality on experimental human pneumococcal carriage acquisition: a retrospective cohort analysis.ERJ open research · 2022Article
- Analysis of fine particulates from fuel burning in a reconstructed building at Çatalhöyük World Heritage Site, Turkey: assessing air pollution in prehistoric settled communities.Environmental geochemistry and health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Air pollution is the world's largest single environmental health risk (WHO). Particulate matter such as black carbon is one of the main components of air pollution. The effects of particulate matter on human health are well established however the effects on bacteria, organisms central to ecosystems in humans and in the natural environment, are poorly understood. We report here for the first time that black carbon drastically changes the development of bacterial biofilms, key aspects of bacterial colonisation and survival. Our data show that exposure to black carbon induces structural, compositional and functional changes in the biofilms of both S. pneumoniae and S. aureus. Importantly, the tolerance of the biofilms to multiple antibiotics and proteolytic degradation is significantly affected. Additionally, our results show that black carbon impacts bacterial colonisation in vivo. In a mouse nasopharyngeal colonisation model, black carbon caused S. pneumoniae to spread from the nasopharynx to the lungs, which is essential for subsequent infection. Therefore our study highlights that air pollution has a significant effect on bacteria that has been largely overlooked. Consequently these findings have important implications concerning the impact of air pollution on human health and bacterial ecosystems worldwide.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.