title: Survival of Vibrio cholerae O1 on plastic materials.
abstract: Survival of environmental and clinical strains of Vibrio cholerae O1 was studied on glass and on two varieties of plastic materials. V. cholerae survived at least 2 days on glass, but was not recovered from polystyrene spoons after 15-20 min. Escherichia coli survived for at least 2 days on both glass slides and plastic spoons. Extracts, 10 and 50% (w/v) of ground plastic spoons in isotonic saline water, inactivated 10(4) vibrios in less than 2 h. Isotonic saline water rinses from polyethylene bags inactivated (0% survival) 15 out of 23 strains of V. cholerae in 1 h. A strain of V. cholerae (100-200 CFU/ml) directly suspended in 25 ml of isotonic saline per bag and maintained at 20 degrees C was progressively inactivated. The number of viable cells diminished 95% in 4 h in bags taken from non-sterile rolls. In sterile bags the decrease was 44% and 93% after 4 and 24 h, respectively. A variability up to 50% was observed in the antibacterial effect among the different bags, either sterile or taken from non-sterile rolls. These decreases in V. cholerae viability may result in false negative reports if water samples are collected and carried out in plastic bags.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Investigación y Posgrado en Alimentos, Facultad de Quimica, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, México.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fernández-Escartín
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D005898:Glass; D010969:Plastics / Q000378:metabolism; D011095:Polyethylenes / Q000378:metabolism; D011137:Polystyrenes / Q000378:metabolism; D013997:Time Factors; D014734:Vibrio cholerae / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D010969:Plastics; D011095:Polyethylenes; D011137:Polystyrenes