maintains the environmental persistence and virulence of pathogenic bacteria in mechanically stressed desiccated droplets.

Despite extensive studies on kinematic features of impacting drops, the effect of mechanical stress on desiccated bacteria-laden droplets remains unexplored. In the present study, we unveiled the consequences of the impaction of bacteria-laden droplets on solid surfaces and their subsequent desiccation on the virulence of an enteropathogen typhimurium (STM). The methodology elucidated the deformation, cell-cell interactions, adhesion energy, and roughness in bacteria induced by impact velocity and low moisture because of evaporation. retrieved from the dried droplets were used to understand fomite-mediated pathogenesis. The impact velocity-induced mechanical stress deteriorated the viability of . Of interest, an uninterrupted bacterial proliferation was observed in macrophages at higher mechanical stress. Wild-type under mechanical stress induced the expression of whereas infecting macrophages. The inability of STM to grow in nutrient-rich dried droplets signifies the role of in sensing the mechanical stress and maintaining the virulence of .