Understanding the Mask Mycobiome

Voiceover

Presenter(s)

Carlos Schwindt

Abstract or Description

Masks are a key tool to limit disease spread, but we rarely think of them as environments for microbes. During wear, the mask environment is warm, humid, and made from plant-based substrates on which fungi might thrive. These fungi may reflect a complex mask “mycobiome”, where some fungi produce compounds that reduce pathogen growth (e.g., penicillin) while others may be sources of secondary respiratory infections (e.g., aspergillosis, fungal pneumonia). The mycobiome of masks, therefore, presents an important gap in understanding health outcomes with mask use. This project explored the effect of mask wear time (1, 3, and 6 hours) on the community of culturable fungi from different mask types (disposable paper and reusable cloth). We hypothesized that increased wear time would create a more diverse fungal community due to increased exposure to the environment, but this may differ by mask material. Cultured mask fungi were divided into groups based upon macroscopic and microscopic morphological differences. Only 25.0% of disposable mask samples had culturable fungi growing inside of them, while fungi were cultured from 72.4% of reusable masks. In all, thirty morphologically distinct fungi were cultured. While the culturable fungi communities of reusable, cotton masks were distinct from disposable, paper masks (R= 0.1446, P=.002); communities did not differ meaningfully with time worn (R= 0.00403, P=0.349). Ongoing work using DNA tools to characterize the mask mycobiome will help us to more comprehensively assess mask fungi to help inform best practices

Mentor

Dr. Benjamin Sikes