{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]],"date-time":"2026-10-05T20:08:04Z","timestamp":1791230884193,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,25]],"date-time":"2025-03-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1742860800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Illinois Physical Therapy Association"},{"name":"Illinois Foundation for Physical Therapy (IPTF)"},{"name":"Midwestern University, College of Health Sciences Research Facilitation"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Microorganisms"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Outpatient healthcare facilities represent potential sources of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). The purpose of this study was to survey high-contact surfaces in an outpatient physical therapy clinic, characterize the microbiome of those surfaces, and investigate the effects of a microbiome-specific cleaning and hygiene plan. Hand sanitizer containing a fluorescent probe used by patients and staff identified surface contact. High-contact surfaces were analyzed for bacterial DNA and SARS-CoV-2. A microbiome-specific cleaning and hygiene plan was developed based on initial analysis. After the implementation of the revised cleaning regimen, microbial community diversity and predicted metagenome content (PICRUSt) were employed for differential analysis. Patients had greater surface contact than staff. Ralstonia pickettii was the dominant species pre-cleaning, comprising 49.76% of the total, and observed on 79.5% of surfaces. The cleaning and hygiene plan significantly increased Shannon diversity, and R. pickettii decreased to 4.05% of total bacteria. SARS-CoV-2 was not observed on any surfaces. This study found ecological dominance by a single species in this outpatient clinic, suggesting a potential source of HAIs. However, a microbiome-specific cleaning strategy was successful in diversifying the microbiome and reducing ecological dominance. Additional research is needed to confirm these findings.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms13040737","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,25]],"date-time":"2025-03-25T10:53:54Z","timestamp":1742900034000},"page":"737","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["The Microbiome of an Outpatient Sports Medicine Clinic During a Global Pandemic: Effects of Implementation of a Microbiome-Specific Cleaning Program"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Greer","family":"Russell","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Graduate Studies, Midwestern University, Downers Grove, IL 60515, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rabia","family":"Alegoz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health Sciences, Midwestern University, Downers Grove, IL 60515, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kelley","family":"Hester","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health Sciences, Midwestern University, Downers Grove, IL 60515, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kayla L.","family":"Sierzega","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health Sciences, Midwestern University, Downers Grove, IL 60515, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Martin J.","family":"Szul","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Graduate Studies, Midwestern University, Downers Grove, IL 60515, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1381-2529","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nathaniel","family":"Hubert","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Independent Contractor in Bioinformatics Analysis, Mundelein, IL 60060, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Timothy","family":"Rylander","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Impact Physical Therapy, Hinsdale, IL 60521, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sarah","family":"Jensen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Impact Physical Therapy, Hinsdale, IL 60521, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mae J.","family":"Ciancio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Graduate Studies, Midwestern University, Downers Grove, IL 60515, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9676-0009","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kristina","family":"Martinez-Guryn","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Graduate Studies, Midwestern University, Downers Grove, IL 60515, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4270-0032","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Christian C.","family":"Evans","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physical Therapy, College of Health Sciences, Midwestern University, Downers Grove, IL 60515, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"1","article-title":"Trends in hospital inpatient stays in the United States, 2005\u20132014","volume":"225","author":"McDermott","year":"2017","journal-title":"Healthc. 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