Relationship between atmospheric temperature and survival of airborne bacteria

Effects of temperatures ranging from -40 to 49 C on the behavior of airborne Serratia marcescens, Escherichia coli, and Bacillus subtilis var. niger were investigated. Aerosol decay rates of B. subtilis spores were not significantly affected by the temperature and remained approximately constant within the temperature range studied. The survival of airborne S. marcescens and E. coli was closely related to the temperature. An increase in temperature from -18 to 49 C resulted in a progressive increase of the biological death rate, and the relationship between the biological death rate and the temperature appeared to be linear. An increase in temperature from 24 to 49 C resulted in significantly reduced aerosol recoveries of the two vegetative organisms. At -40 C, the aerosol recovery of all three agents was consistently lower than at -18 to 24 C.