Abraham Cullom, Matheu Storme Spencer, Myra D Williams, Joseph O Falkinham, Connor Brown, Marc A Edwards, Amy Pruden
In-building disinfectants are commonly applied to control the growth of pathogens in plumbing, particularly in facilities such as hospitals that house vulnerable populations. However, their application has not been well optimized, especially with respect to interactive effects with pipe materials and potential unintended effects, such as enrichment of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) across the microbial community. Here, we used triplicate convectively mixed pipe reactors consisting of three pipe materials (PVC, copper, and iron) for replicated simulation of the distal reaches of premise plumbing and evaluated the effects of incrementally increased doses of chlorine, chloramine, chlorine dioxide, and copper-silver disinfectants...
December 10, 2023: Environmental Science & Technology