Data Sheet 1_Response of culturable bacteria and their resistance to air purification across compartments.docx

(from 15% to 65%), alongside a higher proportion of non-susceptible isolates (from 20 to 31). In the school environment, airborne isolates and resistance prevalence decreased following intervention (from 102 to 47 and 43% to 21%, respectively), while surface-associated communities showed smaller reductions in total isolates (from 53 to 43), but a notable decline in resistant phenotypes (from 22 to 9), accompanied by shifts in community composition.</p>Discussion<p>Overall, air purification was associated with a strong reduction in airborne bacterial recovery and AMR burden, while surface and human-associated microbiota remained more stable.

These findings highlight the compartment-specific effects of air purification and support the need for integrated indoor air quality management strategies combining air-targeted interventions with broader environmental control measures to limit AMR dissemination in built environments.</p>