Abstract
The present study was undertaken to determine the bacterial agents present in various clinical solid wastes, general waste and clinical sharp waste. The waste was collected from different wards/units in a healthcare facility in Penang Island, Malaysia. The presence of bacterial agents in clinical and general waste was determined using the conventional bacteria identification methods. Several pathogenic bacteria including opportunistic bacterial agent such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella spp., Klebsiella pneumoniae, Serratia marcescens, Acinetobacter baumannii, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Enterococcus faecalis, Streptococcus pyogenes were detected in clinical solid wastes. The presence of specific pathogenic bacterial strains in clinical sharp waste was determined using 16s rDNA analysis. In this study, several nosocomial pathogenic bacteria strains of Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis, Lysinibacillus sphaericus, Serratia marcescens, and Staphylococcus aureus were detected in clinical sharp waste. The present study suggests that waste generated from healthcare facilities should be sterilized at the point of generation in order to eliminate nosocomial infections from the general waste or either of the clinical wastes.
Highlights
There is growing worldwide awareness about effective control and safe handling of clinical solid waste due to the common concern for hospital hygiene [1,2]
The gram negative bacteria detected were Escherichia coli (E. coli), Proteus mirabilis (P. mirabilis), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa), Salmonella spp., Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae), Serratia liquefaciens (S. liquefaciens), Serratia marcescens (S. marcescens), Acinetobacter lwoffii (A. lwoffii) and Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii) and of these E. coli; P. mirabilis, P. aeruginosa were most frequently found in various types of clinical solid waste
This study confirmed the presence of pathogenic bacteria in various types of clinical solid waste, general waste and clinical sharp waste
Summary
There is growing worldwide awareness about effective control and safe handling of clinical solid waste due to the common concern for hospital hygiene [1,2]. Studies have summarized that poor management practices and improper precautions taken by clinical waste workers during waste collection, segregation and disposal might be the main reason of the spread of infectious diseases among clinical waste handlers [2,6,9]. Numerous studies have been conducted worldwide to define the best appropriate clinical waste management practice in order to minimize the health hazards and associate environmental contamination [1,5,6,7,8,9]. The potential microbiological risks associated with the clinical solid waste are still limited to the healthcare worker and other clinical personnel due to availability of inadequate data on type and quantity of pathogenic microorganism present in the clinical solid waste. The outcome of this study may be useful to determine the reliable technology for the safe handling, disposal and the possible infectious threat of clinical solid waste
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