Characterization of Bacteria on Aerosols From Dust Events in Dakar, Senegal, West Africa

Abstract

We identify bacteria types on collected dust samples in Dakar Senegal, a region that experiences frequent Saharan dust events. We use classical techniques to identify bacteria types from dust samples. Seventy-seven bacteria types are identified from samples collected by spatula and the QuickTake® 30 air sampling pump. The dominant groups in the first batch of 51 bacteria (collected via deposition) are <i>Micrococcus</i> (33.33%), <i>Bacillus</i> (13.73%), <i>Kytococcus</i> (11.76%), <i>Pseudomonas</i> (9.80%), and <i>Burkholderia</i> (7.84%) and dominants in the second batch of 26 bacteria (collected with aerosol sampling vacuum pump): <i>Pseudomonas</i> (38.61%), <i>Burkholderia</i> (26.92%), <i>Micrococcus</i> (11.54%), and <i>Brucella spp</i> (7.69%). These bacteria are found in earlier studies from desert sources and can potentially cause respiratory diseases to exposed populations. Future work will use molecular methods is necessary to search for additional pathogens, including viruses on dust aerosols.