Assessment of Parasites and Bacterial Contamination of Office Door Handles in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State

Abstract

Microorganisms are present on all surfaces, to which they were carried by many direct and indirect methods of transmission. Bacteria and Parasites contaminating office door handles in Nnamdi Azikiwe University were assessed between June and November, 2019. The buildings and the door handles were randomly selected. Sterile swabs moistened in sterile normal saline were used to swab the door handles in a tri-directional manner. The swabs were cultured and subcultured onto nutrient, MacConkey and Salmonella-Shigella agar plates for bacterial growth. The specimens were then examined for parasites using Zinc Sulphate floatation and formol-ether sedimentation techniques. Of the 432 door handles examined, 136 (30.8%) were contaminated. The highest number of contaminated doors were found in Medical Centre 41 (30.1%) and the least in Faculty of Social Sciences Complex 10 (7.4%). E. histolytica 52 (38.2%) was the highest parasite encountered while E. vermicularis 2 (1.5%) was the least. The proportion of infected doors as well as the distribution of different species parasites in the door handles of different complexes examined was significant (P<0.05). Of 432 office door handles examined, 263 (60.9%) yielded bacterial growth. Female hostel 72 (27.4%) had more bacterial contamination while Faculty of Social Sciences 25 (9.5%) had the least. Staphylococcus spp 54 (20.5%) was the highest bacteria isolated, followed by Escherichia 53 (20.2%) while Klebsiella 53 (20.2%) was the least. The distribution of different species of bacteria in the door handles in different complexes was significant (P<0.05). Infectious diseases from microbial contaminated door handles are a potential threat to public health and safety therefore certain measures should be taken such as aggressive and frequent cleaning methods and good hand washing to reduce the incidence of bacterial and parasite transmission and contamination.

Contaminación enteroparasitaria en perillas de puertas, en un liceo de Barquisimeto, Venezuela

“…En referencia al tercer patógeno más diagnosticado, Giardia lamblia (20 % de las perillas) fue mayor al 14 % reportado en perillas en Nigeria (Ukamaka et al, 2021). Este es un protozoario que tiene una distribución mundial, que ronda entre 20 % y 50 %, siendo uno de los enteroparásitos dañinos más frecuentes en infantes de Cuba 7 %, Costa Rica (8 %) y Colombia (11 %) (Solano et al, 2018;Villarroel et al, 2017;Londoño et al, 2014) encontrándose dentro de los tres principales enteroparásitos patógenos en pacientes del estado Lara y particularmente en papel moneda y lechugas (fómites) que transitan en Barquisimeto, también fue encontrado en un 7 % de los billetes que circulan en la población de Coro, Venezuela (Galíndez et al, 2016;Traviezo et al, 2016;Traviezo et al, 2013;Morales et al, 2014) y en el 7 % de intercomunicadores de Barquisimeto (Traviezo et al, 2019).…”

“…Este protozoario es el responsable de la amibiasis, que puede presentarse con dolor abdominal, pujo, tenesmo y diarrea que puede estar acompañada de moco y sangre. Los quistes de Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia lamblia y ooquistes de Cryptosporidium spp presentan paredes gruesas que les permiten resistir la desecación y conservar su infectividad por mayores períodos (Ukamaka et al, 2021).…”

“…Durante décadas, se ha señalado como las enfermedades parasitarias han sido responsables de un mayor número de muertes que las producidas por las guerras en la historia de la humanidad (Flores et al, 2018) y de todas ellas, las enteroparasitosis representan un problema recurrente y continúo a lo largo y ancho del planeta, se calcula que anualmente en el mundo se infectan con parásitos intestinales, unos 50 millones de personas y fallecen unas 100.000 no obstante, estos reportes solo representan el 25 % de los infectados, que son los sintomáticos (entran en las estadísticas) mientras que el 85 % del resto de infectados se presentan como portadores asintomáticos (no son tratados) que son los responsables de perpetuar la transmisión. De aquí se tiene que, particularmente, en Latinoamérica se han llegado a enfermar, por consecuencia de infecciones enteroparasitarias, entre el 20 % y el 30 % de toda la población, casuística que nuevamente excluye a los portadores asintomáticos (Solano et al, 2018;Ukamaka et al, 2021).…”

Microbiological Quality and Physico-chemical Properties of Bore-Hole Water from Stored Water Tanks in Selected Hostels in Ifite-Awka, Nigeria

“…Total heterotrophic bacteria counts were estimated using methods described by [14], while coliform counts were determined using the most probable number (MPN) technique as described by [13].…”

Profile and Antibiotic Susceptibility Patterns of Bacteria Isolated from Computer Keyboards at University Setting in Sari, Northern Iran: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Many pathogenic bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus, coagulase-negative Staphylococci, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Escherichia coli, can survive on the keyboards for a long time, causing numerous infections (5). The keyboards always act as bacterial sources due to the frequent contact with the users' skin (6,7). Also, coughs and sneezes can infect computers, phones, and desktop components with various bacteria and viruses (8).…”