The Enviromental Contamination in Some Intensive Care Units of Assiut and Sohag University Hospitals

Abstract

The hospital environment may contribute with the dissemination of pathogens. There are no meaningful standards for permissible levels of microbial contamination of inanimate surfaces in hospital environment, but an increased microbial load on surfaces may imply the possibility of finding a pathogen. During a 18 months study, 1153 bacterial isolates were recovered from 1063 enviromental samples(beds, door handle, trash basket , door surface, floors, and medial equipments) in trauma and chest ICUs of Assuit University Hospital and trauma ICU of Sohag university hospital. In vitro susceptibility of environmental bacterial isolates to 12 antimicrobial agents Ampicilin; Amikacin, Ciprofloxacin, Tetracycline, Bacitracin, Amoxclav, Gentamicin, Cefotaxime, Ceftazidime, Imipenem, Meropenem and Chloramphenicol (as commercial antimicrobial agents). Proteus mirabilis, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas spp, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Entercoccus spp, Acinetobacter baumannii, Serratia marcescens and Coagulase negative Staphylococcus were identified in three intensive care units. The most prevalent organism was Klebsiella pneumonia and Staphylococcus aureus in trauma and chest ICUs of Assuit University Hospital, Escherichia coli in trauma ICU of Sohag University Hospital. Vancomycin, linezolid, gentamicin and ciperofloxcin were highly effective to gram positives while imipenem and meropenem to gram negatives