Medical Devices, Tools, and Equipment Surfaces Contamination in Three Departments at a Tertiary Hospital in Baghdad

Abstract

The hospital environment, medical instruments and health care staff considered as a reservoir of potential pathogens that colonized by microorganisms which can cause infections. Bacteria could be survived up to months on dry inanimate surfaces and could be transmitted to the patients or visitors through the hand when contact with contaminated medical devices.The study was achieved from June 2017 to December 2019, at the most three occupied departments at Teaching Hospital in Baghdad. Swabs were collected from medical instruments and surfaces. Samples were cultured and incubated for bacterial and fungal pathogens respectively, through the standard microbiological procedures.From a total of 1043 swab, the highest samples were collected in the year of 2018(455) swab, as well as, the highest percentages of bacteria were isolated. Mixed bacterial growth was isolated from 82 swabs (7.86 %), while 961 swabs (92.13%) did not show any growth. the isolates had 54 (65.85%) Gram-positive bacteria, which were Bacillus then Staphylococcus epidermidis (28 and 11) isolates respectively, while 28 (34.14%) were Gram-negatives, that consisted of Pseudomonas aeruginosa 13 isolates, followed by Escherichia coli 11 isolates. The Gynecology Department carries higher rates of bacterial contamination (50%) and the Ultrasound units in both of (Gynecology and Surgery) Departments revealed a high percentage of contamination (24.39%, 29.16%) respectively.In conclusion, the contamination rates with Gram-positive bacteria increased even after regular cleaning and disinfection in the environment surrounding patients and medical devices in the hospital.

Bacterial Pathogens and Their Antimicrobial Resistance Patterns of Inanimate Surfaces and Equipment in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

“…Also, a lower prevalence of bacterial contamination of inanimate surfaces and equipment compared to the present finding was reported including a study (2009-2015) done in Egypt [65] to assess bacteriology of inanimate surfaces and equipment among selected hospitals which report a prevalence of 25.6% and studies from India [66,67] aimed at evaluating bacterial contamination from clinical inert environment (n = 100) and cell phone of HCW (=30) which report 38% and 42.8% of contamination, respectively. Besides, a study on medical device and equipment surface contamination in three tertiary hospitals (n = 1043 swabs) in Baghdad of Iraq [68], another study on microbial contamination of operating theatres and ICU at a specialized hospital in Erbil City of Iraq [69], a study on the bacterial profile from inanimate surfaces and contaminated equipment in ICU at a teaching hospital in Libya [70], another study on the occurrence of bacterial contamination in the operation theatre and related to surgical site infection in Libya [71], a study in Malawi conducted to assess the bacterial profile of toilets and bathroom door handle/knob contamination [15], a study in Palestine to monitor bacterial contamination (n = 243 swabs) of the operation theatre [72], and hospital-wide survey of bacterial contamination of point-of-care devices like ultrasound probes in the United States of America [73] had reported a much lower prevalence of 7.86%, 48.3%, 12.5%, 6.7%, 42.6%, 24.7%, and 5.6%, respectively. The discrepancy may be due to the difference in the sample size, study area, study design [14,59], practices of cleaning and decontaminations [51], facility infection prevention and control [2,27], type of contaminating isolate [74], and the type of equipment or inanimate surface with respect to the degree of contact [22,75].…”