Transcript Teddy Larkin Field Turf Microbial Survivorship

Field Turf Microbial
Survivorship
by
Teddy Larkin
Introduction
• Sports are a common part of life from lower
school physical fitness to the high level of
professional sports.
• Artificial turf fields are used for many of these
sports activities.
• Artificial turf was developed by Dr. David
Chaney.
• Today it is a standard surface for school
football fields, playgrounds, and professional
arenas.
Intro
• Artificial turf is a incomparable surface
for field turf use since it is always bright
and nice to look at, never needs
watering, and is a fairly cheap playing
surface to maintain.
Intro
• A recent local news article reported findings
of bacteria on soccer balls.
• Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus
(MRSA) was found on the balls and an
aggressive ball cleaning procedure with
bleach was started.
• MRSA has also been reported in brush burns
and lacerations from falls on the artificial turf.
Intro
• Methicillin-resistant strains of
Staphylococcus aureus were first
recognized in 1961, one year after
the antibiotic methicillin was
introduced for treating S. aureus
infections.
• MRSA is resistant to all betalactam antibiotics.
Intro
• The first documented MRSA outbreak in
the United States occurred at a Boston
hospital in 1968.
• For the next two decades most MRSA
infections occurred in persons who had
contact with hospitals or other
healthcare settings (healthcareassociated MRSA).
• Today, MRSA infections are now seen in
healthy persons.
Intro
• S. Aureus is most often spread to
others by contamination of the hands.
• The skin and mucous membranes is
usually an effective barrier against
infection. However, if these barriers are
breached S. aureus may gain access to
underlying tissues or the bloodstream
and cause infection.
Intro
• The seriousness of this bacterial
infection and finding of it on common
pieces of sports equipment led me to
wonder that if these germs were
growing on soccer balls then what was
growing on the artificial turf fields that
the balls were being rubbed against all
day.
• Blood, sweat, and tears plus your
everyday old spit are a part of all
sports, just as are cuts, turf burns and
abrasions.
What’s Growing out there?
• The experiment was designed to
determine if artificial turf serves as a
media for bacterial growth and if so
what was the bacteria survive time on
the turf.
Turf Composition
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•
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Beads
Fibers
Silica sand
Backing
QuickT ime ™an d a
TIFF ( Uncomp res sed) deco mpre ssor
ar e need ed to see this pictur e.
Bead Composition
Ambient Rubber
a. Recycled rubber
b. Jagged, floats
and moves with
the water flow,
migrating to the
edges of the field.
Cryogenic Rubber
a. Recycled rubber
b. Frozen & shattered
c. Forms smooth-sided
spherical particles.
d. Rounded so it does not
attract microscopic
bubbles of air. As a
result it does not float
nor displace in high use
areas.
Turf Beads
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
E Coli
• The bacteria used in this experiment on the
field turf fragments is Escherichia Coli.
Escherichia Coli
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•
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rod-shaped
gram negative bacteria
2 micrometers diameter
reproduction rate:
double every 20
minutes
• Survival, growth and
replication require only
a single carbon source
and ammonium salts
Purpose
• The purpose of this experiment is
to see if bacteria can survive on
field fragments over time.
Hypothesis
• Artificial turf is a potential source for
bacterial growth.
• The daily use of the surfaces and
exposure of the surface to body
secretions of sweat, mucous, blood, and
tears combined with variable drainage
and temperature exposure with no
source of regular cleaning makes the
surface a potential source for bacterial
growth.
Hypothesis
• The field turf fragment samples
with beads should be able to grow
more bacteria than the fragment
samples without beads.
• Artificial turf surfaces are a
potential site for sustained
bacterial growth