An antimicrobial chemical called triclosan is abundant in dust—and linked to changes in the genetic makeup of dust, according to a new study. The result is dust with organisms that could cause an antibiotic-resistant infection.
“There is this conventional wisdom that says everything that’s in dust is dead, but that’s not actually the case. There are things living in there,” study leader Erica Hartmann said, an assistant professor of environmental engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University. “Dust is the final resting place of everything that’s been circulating in the air, so it can give us information about air quality.”
