{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,23]],"date-time":"2026-03-23T11:33:10Z","timestamp":1774265590209,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":109,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,31]],"date-time":"2021-03-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1617148800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"FCT \u2013 Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para Ci\u00eancia e Tecnologia","award":["02\/SAICT\/2016"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["02\/SAICT\/2016"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Atmosphere"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study aims to assess the airborne bioburden of rural and urban Portuguese Primary Health Care Centers (PHCC) using active and passive sampling methods and identify the potential differences in airborne microbiota between both environments. The highest total aerobic mesophilic bacterial load in indoor air were found in the Vaccination Room (448 CFU.m\u22123) in the Rural PHCC and in the Waiting Room (420 CFU.m\u22123) for Urban PHCC. The total coliforms contamination level in indoor air was detected only in the Cleaning Supplies Room (4 CFU.m\u22123) in the Urban PHCC. The most frequent bacteria genera identified was Micrococcus (21% Rural PHCC; 31% Urban PHCC). The surface samples showed a highest total aerobic mesophilic bacterial contamination in the Treatment Room (86 \u00d7 103 CFU.m\u22122) from the Rural PHCC and in the Front Office (200 \u00d7 103 CFU.m\u22122) from the Urban PHCC. The electrostatic dust cloth (EDC) samples showed a highest bacterial load in the Urban PHCC. Total aerobic mesophilic bacterial load in settled dust and in the Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) filter samples in the Urban PHCC (8 CFU.g\u22121 and 6 \u00d7 103 CFU.m\u22122) presented higher values compared with the Rural PHCC (1 CFU.g\u22121 and 2.5 \u00d7 103 CFU.m\u22122). Urban PHCC presented higher bacterial airborne contamination compared with the Rural PHCC for the majority of sampling sites, and when compared with the indoor air quality (IAQ) Portuguese legislation it was the Rural PHCC in two sampling places who did not comply with the established criteria.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/atmos12040450","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,31]],"date-time":"2021-03-31T21:37:03Z","timestamp":1617226623000},"page":"450","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":15,"title":["Bacterial Contamination in Health Care Centers: Differences between Urban and Rural Settings"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2879-9291","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ana","family":"Monteiro","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"H&amp;TRC\u2014Health &amp; Technology Research Center, ESTeSL\u2014Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Sa\u00fade, Instituto Polit\u00e9cnico de Lisboa, 1600-560 Lisbon, Portugal"},{"name":"Escola Nacional de Sa\u00fade P\u00fablica, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 1600-560 Lisbon, Portugal"},{"name":"Centro de Ci\u00eancias e Tecnologias Nucleares (C2TN), Instituto Superior T\u00e9cnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1600-560 Lisbon, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2533-1397","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Beatriz","family":"Almeida","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"H&amp;TRC\u2014Health &amp; Technology Research Center, ESTeSL\u2014Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Sa\u00fade, Instituto Polit\u00e9cnico de Lisboa, 1600-560 Lisbon, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5762-7814","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"In\u00eas","family":"Paci\u00eancia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Portugal &amp; Centro Hospitalar S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"Instituto de Ci\u00eancia e Inova\u00e7\u00e3o em Engenharia Mec\u00e2nica e Engenharia Industrial, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Jo\u00e3o","family":"Cavaleiro Rufo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Portugal &amp; Centro Hospitalar S\u00e3o Jo\u00e3o, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"EPIUnit\u2014Instituto de Sa\u00fade P\u00fablica, Universidade do Porto, 4050-600 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1316-7750","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Edna","family":"Ribeiro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"H&amp;TRC\u2014Health &amp; Technology Research Center, ESTeSL\u2014Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Sa\u00fade, Instituto Polit\u00e9cnico de Lisboa, 1600-560 Lisbon, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4165-7052","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elisabete","family":"Carolino","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"H&amp;TRC\u2014Health &amp; Technology Research Center, ESTeSL\u2014Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Sa\u00fade, Instituto Polit\u00e9cnico de Lisboa, 1600-560 Lisbon, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1545-6479","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Carla","family":"Viegas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"H&amp;TRC\u2014Health &amp; Technology Research Center, ESTeSL\u2014Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Sa\u00fade, Instituto Polit\u00e9cnico de Lisboa, 1600-560 Lisbon, Portugal"},{"name":"Centro de Investiga\u00e7\u00e3o em Sa\u00fade P\u00fablica, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 1600-560 Lisbon, Portugal"},{"name":"Comprehensive Health Research Center (CHRC), 1600-560 Lisbon, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Ant\u00f3nio Sousa","family":"Uva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Escola Nacional de Sa\u00fade P\u00fablica, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 1600-560 Lisbon, Portugal"},{"name":"Centro de Investiga\u00e7\u00e3o em Sa\u00fade P\u00fablica, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 1600-560 Lisbon, Portugal"},{"name":"Comprehensive Health Research Center (CHRC), 1600-560 Lisbon, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6615-5289","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sandra Cabo","family":"Verde","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro de Ci\u00eancias e Tecnologias Nucleares (C2TN), Instituto Superior T\u00e9cnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1600-560 Lisbon, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"557","DOI":"10.1016\/j.resmic.2015.03.004","article-title":"Microbiological assessment of indoor air quality at different hospital sites","volume":"166","author":"Almeida","year":"2015","journal-title":"Res. 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