Abstract

LABORATORY SURFACES CAN ACT AS A VECTOR FOR TRANSMITS THE INFECTION

Gurjeet Singh, Raksha, R.K. Mukhia, A.D. Urhekar

Abstract

Background: Laboratory surfaces harbor many microbial pathogensas the patient samples are kept on laboratory surfaces duringprocessing. The aim of the study was to find out bacterial and fungalpathogens on laboratory surfaces of various sections of Microbiologylaboratory – Bacteriology, Mycology, Serology, media preparation anddiscard section. This study will help design methods to help inprevention of laboratory acquired infection among laboratory workersand others who transport the samples from patients to laboratory andalso collect the reports. Material and Methods: This prospectivestudy was conducted in a microbiology laboratory of Mahatma GandhiHospital, Navi Mumbai, India. The period of study was 6 months fromNovember 2013 to April 2014. Samples were collected from - varioussurfaces of microbiology laboratory with moistened (pre-moistened with sterile peptonewater) two cotton swabs. One swab was inoculated onto MacConkey agar, Blood agar, andChocolate agar media and incubated at 37ºC for 24 to 48 hours and other inoculated onSabouraud’s dextrose agar media and incubated for 1 to 7 days at 25-28°C. Results: Weisolated and identified various bacteria and fungi from these surfaces. In our study, thedistribution of microorganisms on laboratory surfaces were Bacillus species 36.36% followedby Coagulase negative Staphylococcus 14.29% Staphylococcus aureus 12.99%, Diptheroids10.39%, Micrococcus 9.09%, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella species 6.49% each,Aspergillus species 2.60% and Candida species 1 1.30% were isolated. Conclusions: Ourstudy showed that all areas of the laboratory are contaminated with pathogenic / nonpathogenic bacteria and fungi. It indicates that these are a potential source of transmission of infection from the hands of laboratory workers to themselves / others if proper precaution is not taken.

Keywords: Laboratory-acquired infection, bacteria, fungi, disinfectants and health care workers.