Household Vacuums Could be Vectors for Disease

New research from the University of Queensland and Laval University suggests that aerosolized dust generated by household vacuum cleaners could be a vector for disease and have ill effects in certain groups of people.

The researchers used 21 different models of household vacuum cleaner of varying quality and age and found that emissions from the vacuum cleaners can carry bacteria and mold which could lead to adverse effects in allergic people, infants and people with compromised immunity. Their findings are published ahead of print in Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

In order to confidently attribute their findings to vacuum cleaners, researchers tested the machines in a special chamber that isolated the vacuum emissions from all other sources of fine particulate matter and bacteria.

Among the matter present in the tested vacuum emissions were bacteria with resistance to common antibiotics, as well as the toxin Clostridium botulinum.

The researches say the last find is worrisome because, according to previous studies, "the dust found indoors could act as a vehicle for infant botulism infection," which may have dire consequences, including sudden infant death syndrome.

"Even though no quantitative data are available for antibiotic resistance gene emission while vacuuming, the observed emission rates for bacteria might suggest that the genetic content of those bacterial cells, including antibiotic resistance genes, may contribute to indoor bioaerosol exposure," the researchers said in a joint statement.

Caroline Duchaine, one of the study's authors, notes that previous research has suggested that human hair and skin particles on collected among floor dust and in the air can be easily inhaled. Now, knowing that vacuum emissions can also send such particulate flying into the air, it adds another source possibility to previously unsolved medical cases.

Duchaine and her colleagues said vacuum cleaners are "underrepresented in indoor aerosol and bioaerosol assessment and should be considered, especially when assessing cases of allergy, asthma, or infectious diseases without known environmental reservoirs for the pathogenic or causative microbe."