Identification of an agent suitable for disinfecting boots of visitors to the Antarctic
Studies of Antarctic fauna have led to tentative identification of a range of potential pathogens for both animals and humans. The rapid increase in visitors on tourist ships to the continent, now exceeding 10,000 per year, raises the concern that humans might transmit pathogens into and between wil...
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
2005
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0032247404003961 2024-09-09T19:06:42+00:00 Identification of an agent suitable for disinfecting boots of visitors to the Antarctic Curry, C.H. McCarthy, J.S. Darragh, H.M. Wake, R.A. Churchill, S.E. Robins, A.M. Lowen, R.J. 2005 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247404003961 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247404003961 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Polar Record volume 41, issue 1, page 39-45 ISSN 0032-2474 1475-3057 journal-article 2005 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247404003961 2024-07-17T04:04:09Z Studies of Antarctic fauna have led to tentative identification of a range of potential pathogens for both animals and humans. The rapid increase in visitors on tourist ships to the continent, now exceeding 10,000 per year, raises the concern that humans might transmit pathogens into and between wildlife colonies. The authors investigated the feasibility and efficacy of chemical disinfection of the microbial contamination on visitors' boots. During three voyages to penguin colonies in the Ross Sea, swabs were collected from the boots of visitors prior to landing, immediately on return to the ship, after a water wash, and after a chemical disinfectant wash using Virkon S. For the first two visits, abundant growth of bacteria was identified on boots at all three stages prior to disinfection. Following disinfection, the growth of bacteria was virtually eliminated. On the third visit, previously disinfected boots grew virtually no bacteria. After this landing the bacterial growth was substantially reduced by disinfection. These results indicate that consideration should be given to including disinfection in cleaning the boots of visitors to wildlife sites in the Antarctic to reduce the risk of translocation of microbial pathogens. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Polar Record Ross Sea Cambridge University Press Antarctic Landing The ENVELOPE(161.417,161.417,-78.367,-78.367) Ross Sea The Antarctic Polar Record 41 1 39 45 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
Studies of Antarctic fauna have led to tentative identification of a range of potential pathogens for both animals and humans. The rapid increase in visitors on tourist ships to the continent, now exceeding 10,000 per year, raises the concern that humans might transmit pathogens into and between wildlife colonies. The authors investigated the feasibility and efficacy of chemical disinfection of the microbial contamination on visitors' boots. During three voyages to penguin colonies in the Ross Sea, swabs were collected from the boots of visitors prior to landing, immediately on return to the ship, after a water wash, and after a chemical disinfectant wash using Virkon S. For the first two visits, abundant growth of bacteria was identified on boots at all three stages prior to disinfection. Following disinfection, the growth of bacteria was virtually eliminated. On the third visit, previously disinfected boots grew virtually no bacteria. After this landing the bacterial growth was substantially reduced by disinfection. These results indicate that consideration should be given to including disinfection in cleaning the boots of visitors to wildlife sites in the Antarctic to reduce the risk of translocation of microbial pathogens. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Curry, C.H. McCarthy, J.S. Darragh, H.M. Wake, R.A. Churchill, S.E. Robins, A.M. Lowen, R.J. |
spellingShingle |
Curry, C.H. McCarthy, J.S. Darragh, H.M. Wake, R.A. Churchill, S.E. Robins, A.M. Lowen, R.J. Identification of an agent suitable for disinfecting boots of visitors to the Antarctic |
author_facet |
Curry, C.H. McCarthy, J.S. Darragh, H.M. Wake, R.A. Churchill, S.E. Robins, A.M. Lowen, R.J. |
author_sort |
Curry, C.H. |
title |
Identification of an agent suitable for disinfecting boots of visitors to the Antarctic |
title_short |
Identification of an agent suitable for disinfecting boots of visitors to the Antarctic |
title_full |
Identification of an agent suitable for disinfecting boots of visitors to the Antarctic |
title_fullStr |
Identification of an agent suitable for disinfecting boots of visitors to the Antarctic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Identification of an agent suitable for disinfecting boots of visitors to the Antarctic |
title_sort |
identification of an agent suitable for disinfecting boots of visitors to the antarctic |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2005 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247404003961 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247404003961 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(161.417,161.417,-78.367,-78.367) |
geographic |
Antarctic Landing The Ross Sea The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Landing The Ross Sea The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Polar Record Ross Sea |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Polar Record Ross Sea |
op_source |
Polar Record volume 41, issue 1, page 39-45 ISSN 0032-2474 1475-3057 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247404003961 |
container_title |
Polar Record |
container_volume |
41 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
39 |
op_container_end_page |
45 |
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1809820763398602752 |