We have been experiencing repeated what looks very much like fungal contaminations in several incubators (in the same lab).
We have tried the following repeated times and yet the coating on all interior surfaces of the incubators continues to return:
- autoclave of all removable parts
- Hydrogen peroxide decontamination
- clean with Fermacidal, which is active against fungus https://geneflow.co.uk/product/fermacidal-d2-disinfectant-for-tissue-culture-and-lab-surfaces/
We have never seen any evidence of the fungus in plates or flasks, on occasion cultures are moved to other labs and there have never been fungal contaminations there.
I have added a picture below.
Can anyone offer some advice or guidance on how we can get rid of this once and for all?
Paul Ellis the surface of your in incubators looks like stainless steel. Besides iron and carbon, stainless steel can have a lot of other metals. Because of the affinity of pathogens (including fungi) to stainless steel, a lot of French hospitals have switched to copper usually in the form of bronze or brass. Understand
Iron is essential for bacterial and fungal physiological processes such as DNA replication, transcription, metabolism, and energy generation... see Article Shared and distinct mechanisms of iron acquisition by bacter...
so you could brass plate the incubators and reduce microbial pathogens. However, most fungi have fairly narrow ranges of PH that can limit their growth. Now these are two grandmother solutions to crotch itch, athlete's foot etc rinsing with say either apple cider vinegar or a solution of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) Let me know if either works Chris
Your incubator is having some mucorales fungal growth. This indicates that you have a humidity issue which if present will give persistent source of contamination.
You may need to have dehumified condition to counteract this.
Peroxide is not able to address the clean up.
A better disinfectant which is also safe might be Iodine solution.
Some people use ultraviolet lights for lowering contaminations also.
Iodophore is a disinfection which does not have dermal toxicity the thorogh clean down and changing the environment to reduce humidity would likely resolve much of your issues.
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