ABSTRACT
This study
was aimed at isolation and identification of bacteria from fomites in Godfrey
Okoye University restrooms. Total number of 24 samples were collected from the
different restrooms (female, male and staff toilet) including the toilet seats
and door hand handles. The samples were inoculated onto MacConkey and nutrient
agar and incubated at 370c for 24 hours, the colonial morphology
which includes the colony colour, shape, size, surface, elevation and number of
colonies formed were recorded. The isolates were gram’s stained and purified.
The biochemical test conducted were catalase, coagulase, citrate, oxidase,
indole, methyl red test and voges prauskeur (IMViC) . The following bacteria
were identified; Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella spp, Pseudomonas spp,
Bacillus spp, proteus spp, Escherichia coli. In this study
75% of the isolates were positive. This result showed that the restrooms were
highly contaminated with bacteria. Regular washing of hands with soap is
advised, general public needs to observe proper hand hygiene and use of quality
disinfectants in cleaning restrooms to reduce the spread of contagious
diseases.
CHAPTER
ONE
1.1. INTRODUCTION
Fomite
is a non living object that infectious microorganisms can be deported on. Fomites
when in constant contact with humans
or natural habitats
of pathogenic organism constitute a
major source of spread of
infectious diseases (Osterholm et al., 1995). The fomites include
door handle of conveniences,
showers, toilet, hand lockers especially
those found in public offices,
hospitals, hotels, restaurants and restrooms
(Bright et al., 2010). Beside the
day to day interaction
of people, which constitute one
way of spreading disease, the major source of spread of
community acquired infections are
fomites (Presscott et al., 1993). Microorganisms
are found everywhere, bacteria and fungi contaminate out body, our houses, work
places, and whole environment .Fortunately among many billion of bacteria, only
1500 can be dangerous for our health, causing different disease such as pneumonia,
otitis media, sore throat, gastroenteritis and skin infections (Eltablawy and
Elhinfnawi, 2009). Microorganisms constitute a major part of every ecosystem. In
these environments, they live either freely or as parasites (Sleigh and
Timbury, 1998). The hand serves as a medium for the propagation of
microorganisms from place to place and from person to person. Although it is
nearly impossible for the hand to be free from microorganisms, the presence of pathogenic
bacteria may lead to chronic or acute illness (Oranusi et al., 2013). Human
hands usually harbor
microorganisms both as
part of body normal flora as well as transient
microbes contacted from the environment (Lindberg et al., 2004). In the university environment, students have access
to service offices regularly for different purposes. Given that the door
handles are not routinely disinfected, the opportunity for the transmission of
contaminating microorganisms is great. Although it is accepted that the
infection risk in general community is less than that associated with patients in hospital (Scott et al., 1982). The
increasing incidence of
epidemic outbreaks of
certain diseases and
its rate of spread from one community
to the other has
become a major public health concern
(Nworie et al., 2012).
People
believe that microbes are only present in research laboratories or in hospitals
and clinics and thus they have a misleading feeling of security in other
places. This is due to the lack of knowledge about where bacteria cause the
health problem. Researchers considered that 80% of infections are spread
through hands contact with hands or other objects (Al-Ghamdi et al., 2011). The main reasons are
difficulties to prevent the
transfer of microbes
that are already
present in human
bodies (Lues and Tonder, 2007).
Hand washing is fundamental
cautionary measure to
protect against the spread of
diseases and is one of
the primary practices
to reduce the transfer of
bacteria from person to
person, or from person
to food contact surfaces (Chinakwe et al., 2012). It is established that
unwashed hands can transmit pathogens, especially fecal pathogens, to food
product after visit to the toilet. Investigation of food borne
illness showed that
poor personal hygiene, primarily ineffective hand
washing is an important
contributor to food borne illness (Lambrechts et al., 2014). Door handles of offices in Abuja metropolis were investigated
for bacterial contamination. The researchers found that 86.7 % were positive
(Nworie et al., 2012).
1.2. AIM
This
study was designed to determine the level of bacterial contamination of public
restrooms in Godfrey Okoye University.
1.3. OBJECTIVES
1.
To isolate bacterial from the formites using routine culture media.
2.
To identify the isolate as much as possible, to compare the male, female and
staff restrooms.
================================================================
Item Type: Project Material | Attribute: 33 pages | Chapters: 1-5
Format: MS Word | Price: N3,000 | Delivery: Within 30Mins.
================================================================
No comments:
Post a Comment