Prevention of microbial species introductions to the Arctic: The efficacy of footwear disinfection measures on cruise ships
Biosecurity measures are commonly used to prevent the introduction of non-native species to natural environments globally, yet the efficacy of practices is rarely tested under operational conditions. A voluntary biosecurity measure was trialled in the Norwegian high Arctic following concern that non...
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ftpensoft:10.3897/neobiota.37.22088 2023-05-15T14:54:51+02:00 Prevention of microbial species introductions to the Arctic: The efficacy of footwear disinfection measures on cruise ships Rumpf,Sabine Alsos,Inger Greve Ware,Chris 2018 text/html https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.37.22088 https://neobiota.pensoft.net/article/22088/ en eng Pensoft Publishers info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/eissn/1314-2488 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pissn/1619-0033 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess NeoBiota 37: 37-49 biosecurity disinfection invasive species microorganisms monitoring tourism Short Communication 2018 ftpensoft https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.37.22088 2022-03-01T12:36:24Z Biosecurity measures are commonly used to prevent the introduction of non-native species to natural environments globally, yet the efficacy of practices is rarely tested under operational conditions. A voluntary biosecurity measure was trialled in the Norwegian high Arctic following concern that non-native species might be transferred to the region on the footwear of travellers. Passengers aboard an expedition cruise ship disinfected their footwear with the broad spectrum disinfectant Virkon S prior to and in-between landing at sites around the remote Svalbard archipelago. The authors evaluated the efficacy of simply stepping through a disinfectant foot bath, which is the most common practice of footwear disinfection aboard expedition cruise ships in the Arctic. This was compared to a more time consuming and little-used method involving drying disinfected footwear, as proposed by other studies. The two practices were evaluated by measuring microbial growth on paired footwear samples before and after disinfection under both conditions. Step-through disinfection did not substantially reduce microbial growth on the footwear. Allowing disinfected footwear to dry, however, reduced the microbial burden significantly to lower levels. Thus, the currently adopted procedures used aboard ships are ineffective at removing microbial burden and are only effective when footwear is given more time to dry than currently granted under operational conditions. These findings underscore results from empirical research performed elsewhere and suggest the need to better relay this information to practitioners. It is suggested that footwear should minimally be wiped dry after step-through disinfection as a reasonable compromise between biosecurity and practicability. Other/Unknown Material Arctic Svalbard Pensoft Publishers Arctic Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago NeoBiota 37 37 49 |
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Pensoft Publishers |
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ftpensoft |
language |
English |
topic |
biosecurity disinfection invasive species microorganisms monitoring tourism |
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biosecurity disinfection invasive species microorganisms monitoring tourism Rumpf,Sabine Alsos,Inger Greve Ware,Chris Prevention of microbial species introductions to the Arctic: The efficacy of footwear disinfection measures on cruise ships |
topic_facet |
biosecurity disinfection invasive species microorganisms monitoring tourism |
description |
Biosecurity measures are commonly used to prevent the introduction of non-native species to natural environments globally, yet the efficacy of practices is rarely tested under operational conditions. A voluntary biosecurity measure was trialled in the Norwegian high Arctic following concern that non-native species might be transferred to the region on the footwear of travellers. Passengers aboard an expedition cruise ship disinfected their footwear with the broad spectrum disinfectant Virkon S prior to and in-between landing at sites around the remote Svalbard archipelago. The authors evaluated the efficacy of simply stepping through a disinfectant foot bath, which is the most common practice of footwear disinfection aboard expedition cruise ships in the Arctic. This was compared to a more time consuming and little-used method involving drying disinfected footwear, as proposed by other studies. The two practices were evaluated by measuring microbial growth on paired footwear samples before and after disinfection under both conditions. Step-through disinfection did not substantially reduce microbial growth on the footwear. Allowing disinfected footwear to dry, however, reduced the microbial burden significantly to lower levels. Thus, the currently adopted procedures used aboard ships are ineffective at removing microbial burden and are only effective when footwear is given more time to dry than currently granted under operational conditions. These findings underscore results from empirical research performed elsewhere and suggest the need to better relay this information to practitioners. It is suggested that footwear should minimally be wiped dry after step-through disinfection as a reasonable compromise between biosecurity and practicability. |
format |
Other/Unknown Material |
author |
Rumpf,Sabine Alsos,Inger Greve Ware,Chris |
author_facet |
Rumpf,Sabine Alsos,Inger Greve Ware,Chris |
author_sort |
Rumpf,Sabine |
title |
Prevention of microbial species introductions to the Arctic: The efficacy of footwear disinfection measures on cruise ships |
title_short |
Prevention of microbial species introductions to the Arctic: The efficacy of footwear disinfection measures on cruise ships |
title_full |
Prevention of microbial species introductions to the Arctic: The efficacy of footwear disinfection measures on cruise ships |
title_fullStr |
Prevention of microbial species introductions to the Arctic: The efficacy of footwear disinfection measures on cruise ships |
title_full_unstemmed |
Prevention of microbial species introductions to the Arctic: The efficacy of footwear disinfection measures on cruise ships |
title_sort |
prevention of microbial species introductions to the arctic: the efficacy of footwear disinfection measures on cruise ships |
publisher |
Pensoft Publishers |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.37.22088 https://neobiota.pensoft.net/article/22088/ |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago |
genre |
Arctic Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Arctic Svalbard |
op_source |
NeoBiota 37: 37-49 |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/eissn/1314-2488 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/pissn/1619-0033 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.37.22088 |
container_title |
NeoBiota |
container_volume |
37 |
container_start_page |
37 |
op_container_end_page |
49 |
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1766326599539490816 |