About the Authors

Alberta Vandini

Affiliation CIAS Laboratory, Centre for the Study of physical, chemical and microbiological Contamination of Highly Sterile Environments, Department of Architecture, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy

Robin Temmerman

Affiliations Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Technology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium, Chrisal R & D Department, Lommel, Belgium

Alessia Frabetti

Affiliation CIAS Laboratory, Centre for the Study of physical, chemical and microbiological Contamination of Highly Sterile Environments, Department of Architecture, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy

Elisabetta Caselli

Affiliation Department of Medical Sciences, Microbiology Section, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy

Paola Antonioli

Affiliation Department of Infection Prevention Control and Risk Management, Ferrara University Hospital, Ferrara, Italy

Pier Giorgio Balboni

Affiliation Department of Medical Sciences, Microbiology Section, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy

Daniela Platano

Affiliation Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

Alessio Branchini

Affiliation Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy

Sante Mazzacane

sante.mazzacane@unife.it

Affiliation CIAS Laboratory, Centre for the Study of physical, chemical and microbiological Contamination of Highly Sterile Environments, Department of Architecture, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy

Competing Interests

The authors declare that they received funding from the Copma scrl commercial company, and that Dr. Robin Temmerman is affiliated to a commercial funder of this study (Chrisal, Lommel, Belgium). This does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: RT PA PGB EC SM. Performed the experiments: AV RT AF EC. Analyzed the data: SM RT AF EC DP AB. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: SM AV AF EC. Wrote the paper: RT AB DP EC SM.