This study aimed to assess microbial colonization of elevators and the staircase handrail at Ndola Teaching Hospital. Swabs from elevators and staircase handrail were cultured on Blood, MacConkey and Mannitol Salt agar for 24-48h at 35-37oC. All observed bacterial colonies were sub-cultured for identification. Data analysis was conducted with Microsoft excel 2010 and SPSS version 20 statistical software. A 2-tailed Pearson Correlation test was used to assess for significant differences in colonization prevalence between the two elevators and handrail. A total of 94 bacteria species were isolated, among which 75(78.8%) were isolated from elevators while 19(20.2%) were isolated from the staircase handrail. Most bacteria were isolated from exterior buttons followed by doors and interior of elevators whereas the basement, ground and sixth floor sections of the staircase handrail were largely contaminated with S. aureus, non-spore-forming Gram-positive bacilli, Klebsiella spp, coagulase-negative Staphylococci and Enterobacter spp. Overall, the commonest isolated bacteria were S. aureus (33%) followed by non-spore-forming Gram-positive bacilli (16%), coagulase-negative Staphylococci, and endospore-forming Gram-positive bacilli (13.8% apiece), Streptococci (7.4%), and Klebsiella species (6.4%). A strong relationship existed between the prevalence of bacteria colonizers of elevators and the staircase handrail (p<0.01). Therefore, the study showed that elevators and the staircase handrail possess viable microorganisms and may act as potential sources of nosocomial infections especially to immunocompromised patients in hospitals, and this calls for proper and effective infection control and prevention strategies to lessen microbial population from dry surfaces.

Background Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a global problem that require multifaceted effort to curb it. This study aimed to evaluate the antibiotic susceptibility patterns of routinely isolated bacteria at Livingstone Central Hospital (LCH). Methods A retrospective study was performed on all isolated organisms from patient specimens that were processed from January 2019 to December 2021. Specimens were cultured on standard media and Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method was employed for susceptibility testing following the Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute’s recommendations. Results A total of 765 specimens were processed and only 500 (65.4%) met the inclusion criteria. Of the 500, 291(58.2%) specimens were received from female and from the age-group 17–39 years (253, 50.6%) and 40–80 years (145, 29%) in form of blood (331, 66.2%), urine (165, 33%) and sputum (4, 0.8%). Amongst the bacterial isolates, Staphylococcus aureus (142, 28.4%) was the commonest followed by Escherichia coli (91, 18.2%), and Enterobacter agglomerans (76, 15.2%), and Klebsiella pneumoniae (43, 8.6%). The resistance pattern revealed ampicillin (93%) as the least effective drug followed by oxacillin (88%), penicillin (85.6%), co-trimoxazole (81.5%), erythromycin (71.9%), nalidixic acid (68%), and ceftazidime (60%) whereas the most effective antibiotics were imipenem (14.5%), and piperacillin/tazobactam (16.7%). The screening of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) with cefoxitin showed 23.7% (9/38) resistance. Conclusion Increased levels of MDR strains and rising numbers of MRSA strains were detected. Therefore, re-establishing of the empiric therapy is needed for proper patient management, studies to determine the levels of extended spectrum beta lactamase- and carbapenemase-producing bacteria are warranted.

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