Above-ground salt physiotherapeutic facilities: sanitary-hygienic and microbiological evaluation

Abstract

The paper highlights the issues of the development of salt therapy, provides an overview of the results of microbiological and sanitary-hygienic studies conducted in situ in surface salt facilities (NSS) of the Perm Territory, as well as in vitro studies of the survival of bacteria of the genus Staphylococcus in modeling the enclosing surfaces of structures for salt therapy. A comparative analysis of the main hygienic parameters of salt facilities revealed differences between silvinite and halite chambers, showed
the dependence of the intensity of therapeutic factors of the internal environment on the service life and compliance with sanitary and hygienic measures. The diversity of microbial communities of terrestrial salt facilities has been studied by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The dominant representation of Actinomyces living on salt abiotic surfaces of the NSS suggests that they are a pool of cells that "preserve" other bacteria in a viable state in a highly mineralized environment. The revealed quantitative
and qualitative indicators of the microbiota of salt facilities complement the understanding of the structure of microbial communities under conditions of high salt load and anthropogenic influence, including the distribution of microorganisms – the presence of distinctive groups consisting of permanent and transient ecosystem participants. The study of the biological properties of staphylococci isolated from NSS revealed a high percentage of macrolide-resistant strains and hemolytic cultures, which indicates their anthropogenic origin. The high tolerance of crops to sodium and potassium salts, as well as to heavy metal salts, has been shown to differ among representatives of different species and macrolide-sensitive/resistant crops. The manifestation of the differential sensitivity of staphylococci to the studied factors may provide additional information necessary to assess the ecological potential of these bacteria, their spread and solve the problem of combating staphylococcal infections. The obtained data on the survival of bacteria on salt surfaces of various types, their resistance to high concentrations of salts raises the question of special
methods of processing fences of structures for salt therapy.