microbiomes of gymnastic equipment surfaces

Bacterial antimicrobial resistance is a major, urgent clinical problem for humankind. Deaths caused by drug-resistant bacterial infections is the third leading cause of death worldwide, after ischemic heart disease and stroke. In this regard, the World Health Organization recognizes that the antimicrobial resistance problem needs to be addressed urgently. This requires a comprehensive picture of its spread, particularly where surveillance is lacking or where it was previously thought to be unimportant, such as the gymnastic facilities. In this work, we investigated the microbial community structure, prevalence of bacteria and presence of antimicrobial resistance in both indoor and outdoor gymnastic equipment. We found an enrichment of bacteria on gymnastic equipment, including opportunistic pathogens. Bacterial community structures on the surfaces of gymnastic equipment differs significantly from the environment, while the bacterial communities on indoor and outdoor equipment are significantly different. Our results suggested that gymnastic equipment serves as a pathway for the transmission of bacterial infection and antibiotic resistance, with indoor equipment posing a higher risk than outdoor equipment. This phenomenon had previously been underappreciated. Based on these results, we suggest routine risk assessment and disinfection of public facilities in order to prevent the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance and bacterial infection transmission.