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PRINT ISSN : 2319-7692
Online ISSN : 2319-7706 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcmas@gmail.com / submit@ijcmas.com Editor-in-chief: Dr.M.Prakash Index Copernicus ICV 2018: 95.39 NAAS RATING 2020: 5.38 |
The work environment in healthcare facilities is a reservoir of microbes whose presence must be controlled with appropriate tools. In order to monitor the dynamics of surface colonization in healthcare facilities and to standardize the swab-based analysis method, this work involved establishing models of calibration curve that could be used to enumerate bacteria present on surfaces made from different type of materials. The work was conducted on glass, leather, ceramic, sanded plywood, formica and aluminum surfaces using a contextualized analysis protocol with E. coli ATCC 25922 and S. aureus ATCC 29213. Data analysis revealed that the detectable bacterial inocula varied according to bacterial and surface types. Overall, detection threshold was high for each bacterial type. The lowest detection limit was 4,360 CFU/cm² for E. coli on glass surfaces and the highest, 860,000 CFU/cm² for S. aureus on formica. The detection of E. coli was 6, 10, 27, 41, and 77 times sensitive than S. aureus on glass, sanded plywood, formica, aluminum and leather surfaces, respectively. This finding was similar on ceramic surfaces. In relation to surfaces, glass was the material for which bacterial detection was best since the detection thresholds were the lowest compared to other types of materials. In short, these results may justify the choice of glass as appropriate material for surfaces in several settings, in connection with cleaning and disinfection in general, but the detection thresholds recorded highlight the need to explore new techniques or improve specific aspects of the method of enumeration based on wet swabbing of surfaces.