translated from Spanish: Acne-causing bacteria would be present throughout the Santiago Metro network

The data was revealed by MetaSUB, an initiative that seeks to generate and keep updated a map of the microbial presence, where Santiago was included in the research, and that has carried out the research in 59 cities around the world since 2016. Juan Ugalde, engineer in Molecular Biotechnology and doctor of Marine Biology, together with Patricia Vera, Fernanda Arredondo and a group of volunteers, toured 29 stations of the Santiago Metro and collected about 300 samples from handrails, benches, dumps and stairs, among other surfaces, which were then sent to the lab in New York City, in the United States. Preliminary research results were released in a pre-scientific publication of the presence of microbiome in meters of the world. Ugalde explained to the newspaper “The Latest News” that there is a group, called “core”, of 61 bacterial species that are present in all the meters investigated. The most representative and abundant? Cutibacterium acnes, found in the normal microbiota of the skin and which can cause acne. Also found Cutibacterium granulosum, Enterobacter cloacae, Brevundimonas vesicularis, Dermacoccus nishinomiyaensis, Kocuria flava, among others. The researcher of the Microbial Genomics program of the German Faculty of Clinical Medicine Development University, Rafael Araos, stated that bacteria are present everywhere, so it is not new that they are in the Metro. He also stated that this is not a hygiene issue and that “we cannot link this directly to clinical consequences either.” However, the professional highlighted the interesting things about the study, as he considers that “an assembly of microbial communities, which seems to occur only in the Metro”.

Original source in Spanish