Microbial assessment in a rare Norwegian book collection: a One Health approach to cultural heritage

Microbial contamination poses a threat to both the preservation of library and archival collections and the health of staff and users. This study investigated the microbial communities and potential health risks associated with the UNESCO-classified Norwegian Sea Trade Archive (NST Archive) collection exhibiting visible microbial colonization and staff health concerns. Dust samples from book surfaces and the storage environment were analyzed using culturing methods, qPCR, Next Generation Sequencing, and mycotoxin, cytotoxicity, and azole resistance assays. Penicillium sp., Aspergillus sp., and Cladosporium sp. were the most common fungi identified, with some potentially toxic species like Stachybotrys sp., Toxicladosporium sp., and Aspergillus section Fumigati. Fungal resistance to azoles was not detected. Only one mycotoxin, sterigmatocystin, was found in a heavily contaminated book. Dust extracts from books exhibited moderate to high cytotoxicity on human lung cells, suggesting a potential respiratory risk. The collection had higher contamination levels compared to the storage environment, likely due to improved storage conditions. Even though overall low contamination levels were obtained, these might be underestimated due to the presence of salt (from cod preservation) that could have interfered with the analyses. This study underlines the importance of monitoring microbial communities and implementing proper storage measures to safeguard cultural heritage and staff well-being.

Description

This research was funded by the EEA Grant Fund for Bilateral Relations “Microbiological contamination in cultural heritage settings: shared experiences for better approaches” (FBR_OC2_66_NOVA.ID.FCT). S. Sequeira and E. Pasnak gratefully acknowledge the support by the Portuguese Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT/MCTES) through research grants (CEECIND/01474/2018 and UI/BD/153082/2022) and LAQV-REQUIMTE funding. This project was supported by FCT/MCTES UIDP/05608/2020 and UIDB/05608/2020. This work was also supported by national funds through FCT/MCTES/FSE/UE, 2023.01366.BD; UI/BD/153746/2022 and CE3C unit UIDB/00329/2020, UI/BD/151431/2021, and by Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa, national support through IPL/2022/InChildhealth/BI/12M; IPL/IDI&CA2023/FoodAIIEU_ESTeSL; IPL/IDI&CA2023/ASPRisk_ESTeSL; IPL/IDI&CA2023/AR AFSawmills_ESTeSL. This project was also supported by the Polish Minister of Science and Higher Education, under the program “Regional Initiative of Excellence” in 2019–2022 (GrantNo. 008/RID/201/19). C. Pinheiro acknowledges the FCT/MCTES support through CEECIND/02598/2017. C. Pinheiro, M. Penetra, I. Silva, and T. Caldeira acknowledge support from UIDB/04449/2020, UIDP/04449/2020, and LA/P/0132/2020. M. Penetra acknowledges the financial support of the project “ROADMAP—Research on Antonio De Holanda Miniatures Artistic Production” (PTDC/ART-HIS/0985/2021), financed by Portuguese funds through FCT/MCTES. I. Santos acknowledges financial support to FCT-MCTES within the scope of the project UI/BD/153582/2022.

Keywords

Occupational health Occupational exposure Biodeterioration Cultural heritage Microbial contamination One Health approach Conservation Library and archival collection Norway FCT_UIDP/05608/2020 FCT_UIDB/05608/2020 IPL/2022/InChildhealth/BI/12M IPL/IDI&CA2023/FoodAIIEU_ESTeSL IPL/IDI&CA2023/ASPRisk_ESTeSL IPL/IDI&CA2023/ARAFSawmills_ESTeSL

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.21/17510

Citation

Sequeira SO, Pasnak E, Viegas C, Gomes B, Dias M, Cervantes R, Pena P, Viegas S, Caetano LA, et al. Microbial assessment in a rare Norwegian book collection: a One Health approach to cultural heritage. Microorganisms. 2024;12(6):1215.