A new sterile technique effective on capturing tramp ants for microbiological investigations

Nova técnica estéril eficiente para captura de formigas andarilhas para investigações microbiológicas

Abstracts

Tramp ants are an outstanding group of organisms that have a definitive and important role in carrying pathogens. The purpose of this study was to develop a microbiological sterile technique of collecting ants from contaminated areas. The traps were composed of Petri dishes containing culture media, and were tested to verify the applicability of the system. A positive correlation between the microorganism growth and the presence of ants inside or around traps was observed. The technique described demonstrated to be useful to collect ants from different environments, helping the surveillance of pathogenic microorganisms that are of public health concern.

Public health; pathogenic microorganism; Staphylococcus aureus; Klebsiella; Escherichia coli; Enterobacter