PONE-D-23-08650Human pathogenic bacteria on high-touched dry surfaces can be controlled by warming to human-skin temperature under moderate humidityPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Yamaguchi,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

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ACADEMIC EDITOR:Revision Requested

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Kind regards,

Divakar Sharma

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: Partly

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: No

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Excellent work, data clearly show the effect of temp and humidity on survival bacteria on high touch surfaces; in addition, the authors attempted to look into the underlying mechanism as well. Even though "high touched" surfaces were defined in the manuscript, "high touch" surfaces would be preferable

Reviewer #2: After reviewing the manuscript PONE-D-23-08650 titled " Human pathogenic bacteria on high-touched dry surfaces can be controlled by warming to human-skin temperature under moderate humidity, I found it very well written and clearly presented the data. I found it acceptable for publication, however, there are some points that I think they should be cleared. I have already highlighted them on the manuscript and added a sticky note stating my point. In addition, I found the quality of the figures is not of a publishable grade, especially the text on them, they should be reproduced in a better quality.

Reviewer #3: The manuscript entitled “Human pathogenic bacteria on high-touched dry surfaces can be controlled by warming to human-skin temperature under moderate humidity” investigated the dynamics of bacteria on dry surfaces in hospitals and showed experimentally that human pathogenic bacteria on dry surfaces (handrails) can be controlled by warming of the surfaces to human-skin temperature under moderate humidity. Furthermore, they demonstrated that NhaA, an Na+ /H+ antiporter, is a crucial factor in supporting the survival of bacteria under dry conditions, and that an inhibitor 2-AP of NhaA enhances the suppressive effects of warming. It contains some very interesting results, and it is suitable for publication.

In their experiment, they used a commercially available stainless steel handrail designed for doors as an experimental device. I would like to know if they have tested or intend to test with another type of material different from the one used in order to check if the result will be similar.

Reviewer #4: The authors operate from a pristigious university with a strong

research history. Collectively, they have quite interesting

publications. This manuscript is of general interest to a

broad community. Grammar, etc is good in general. The introduction

section clearly spells out a problem with references. We get

plenty of infections in the university hospital where I am and

I have since several decades been concerned about the low humidity

during our long Winters. I therefore welcome such papers and

would like to see this paper accepted.

There are some issues that make some of the most important

figures hard to follow, but I think the authors can resolve

those things. If the authors would kindly revise, I would

like to go ahead with acceptance.

1.

Abstract: Please state some actual numbers. Instead of

"significantly", state p-value.

2.

As far as I know, 70% ethanol remains among the most commonly

used cleaning agents, but is never mentioned in this manus. I

suggest the others make some mention of ethanol for completeness.

3.

Methods and Figs 3 and 4

Temperature throughout was very hard to understand. Speculating

on what makes sense to me at line 376, I think you are missing

the word "incubator". A thermo-hygrostat is only an electronic

device used to control the environment in things like incubators.

The following reflects my understanding. Hopefully it helps the

authors to understand why this was hard to follow and how to

revise.

"thermo-hygrostat incubator adjusted..."

Then, at line380, an adjacent handrail is mentioned. Maybe

something like this:

"approximately 37C when inside the incubator, as measured

with FLIR.

This now takes us back to line 377. Maybe something like

this:

"There were 2 adjacent handrails; temperatures were monitored..."

Some clarification is needed as to the differences in how

the different handrails were used.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

Reviewer #3: No

Reviewer #4: No

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Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: PONE-D-23-08650 (1).pdf

Attachment

Submitted filename: The manuscript PONE.docx

Human pathogenic bacteria on high-touch dry surfaces can be controlled by warming to human-skin temperature under moderate humidity

PONE-D-23-08650R1

Dear Dr. Yamaguchi

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication.

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Kind regards,

Divakar Sharma, Ph.D.

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Accept

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #3: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #4: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

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3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

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4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

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5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

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6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: (No Response)

Reviewer #3: The work has excellent quality and all questions were answered. Therefore, the manuscript is ready and suitable for publication.

Reviewer #4: The revision has improved the manuscript. All my concerns were addressed. Thanks for your time and good luck with publication.

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #3: No

Reviewer #4: No

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