Background: Hospital acquired infection pose a great challenge in provision of healthcare services to many settings  particulary in developing countries where there is limited availability of resources. The roles played by exposed surfaces in spreading of potential bacterial pathogens within the hospital environment have certainly contributed to the increased burden of bacterial infectious diseases such as morbidness, death as well as cost imolecation in healthcare. Our study aimed to determine common bacteria isolated on exposed surfaces and the antimicrobial sensitivity patterns. Methods: A sum of 516 specimens gathered and enrolled for study at Benjamin Mkapa Hopsital (BMH).  The swab specimens were continuously gathered (collected) from different exposed objects in hospital environmental surfaces. All microbiological procedures or tests were performed using appropriate standard operating procedure. The obtained data were analysed using SPSS version 16.0. Results: Among 516 samples, 317 (61.4%) were positive with variety of bacterial isolates from different sites. Out of 317 positive cultures, 120 (37.9%) Staphylococcus aureus, 97 (30.6%) E. coli, 28 (8.8%) Enterobacter aerogenes, 25 (7.9%) Pseudomonas aeruginosa, 23 (7.3%) other Citrobacter species, 20 (6.3%) Citrobacter freundii, 3 (0.9%) Morganella morganii and 1 (0.3%) Serratia mercesens were isolated from different source of exposed surfaces at BMH. Serratia mercesens were highly (100%) resistant to most of the antimicrobial agents including erythromycin, cefotaxime, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, amikacin, penicillin,ceftriaxone, ceftazidime, levofloxacin, ampicillin, azithromycin and cotrimoxazoleTrimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. Conclusion: High levels of potentially pathogenic bacteria were isolated in swab specimens from a wide range of exposed surfaces at BMH. Variable pattern of antiobiotic resistance were observed among bacterial isolates with alarming levels demonstrated by isolates of Serratia mercesens which is amongst the common causes of surgical site infections. This findings call for improved actions for infection prevention and control measures at BMH.

Background: Enterobacteriaceae is among the large group of gram-negative rod bacteria in which it comprises Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Shigella, and many other species whose natural habitat is the intestinal tract of humans and animals. Diarrheal diseases are a major problem worldwide caused by bacterial pathogens particularly in developing countries. A previous study reported a prevalence of 9.30% Extended Spectrum Beta Lactamases (ESBLs) producing Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 that revealed a high (100%) resistance to gentamicin, tetracycline, trimethoprim/sulphamethoxazole, and amoxicillin/ clavulanic acid. Methods: A laboratory-based cross-sectional study was conducted at BMH. A convenient sampling method was used to enroll 308 patients with diarrhea in the study after consent for 12 months. Stool samples were collected into an acceptable clean sterile stool container and transported to Microbiology department for investigation. Analysis of data was performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17.0. Results: Out of 308 participants, 61.0% (188) were female whereas 39.0% (120) were male. The age group of between 18 to 45 years had a larger number of participants recruited in study 257 (83.4%) and less number 4 (1.2%) in the age group above 60 years old. About 5.2 (16/308) percent of stool samples processed were positive with pathogenic bacteria whereas 94.8 (292/308) percent were negative (no pathogenic bacteria isolated) growth. The study presented two pathogenic bacteria species named E. coli strain O157:H7 and Salmonella typhi that were isolated from stool samples of patients with diarrhea and who attended the hospital for treatment. No any shigella species was isolated in the study. The prevalence of S. typhi was 3.2% (10/308) whereas E. coli strain O157:H7 was 1.9% (6/308) out of 308 stool samples processed. The in vitro drug resistance patterns of Ampicillin were observed to be high 9 (90%) followed by Amoxicillin/Clavulanate and tetracycline of which both had 6 (60%) resistance to S. typhi. Conclusion: The study is currently insisting laboratory practitioners carry out an investigation of Escherichia coli strain O157:H7 as a routine test in parallel with other enteric pathogens.

Introduction: The need to address the problem of patient safety has been a focus of World Health Assembly (WHA) meetings of 2002, 2019 and 2021. The 2019 WHA Resolution urged the Member States to take action on patient safety. We aimed to review patient safety efforts in Tanzania from 2002 to 2022 to inform improvement efforts towards the 2030 target. Methods: A rapid literature review was conducted between January 2002 and April 2022.We searched Google, PubMed and PubMed Central in April and May 2022 using the following search terms: PubMed-"patient safety Tanzania", "blood safety in Tanzania", "safe surgery Tanzania", and "healthcare-associated infections Tanzania"; Google-"blood safety in Tanzania", injection safety in Tanzania", "infection prevention and control", "radiation safety in health facilities in Tanzania"; and PubMed Central-"injection safety in Tanzania. Results: The search identified 4160 articles, of which 4053 were removed in initial screening; 21 were duplicates, giving 86 relevant articles for full screening. Of the 86 articles, 04 were removed after the full screening, hence remaining with 82 articles. Among the 82 eligible articles, 27 are on IPC, 26 on safe surgery, 12 on blood safety, 07 on radiation safety, 06 on injection safety, and 02 on medication safety. One article was relevant to-blood safety, IPC and injection safety; and one article was relevant to-IPC and injection