Investigation of microbial contamination in air and interior surfaces of two teaching hospitals of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences

Nosocomial infections have always been one of the major health problems, and it is becoming increasingly important and a challenge for the health system of different countries. In this study, the contamination in the environment and equipment of two hospitals of Mashhad were studied.

This cross-sectional study was performed in two academic hospitals. The sampling method was convenient based on policy of infection control committee of each hospital. Environmental samples were collected from water, sink, patient bed and incubators. Samples were cultured in bacterial culture media and phenotypically identified. .

Out of 323 samples, 272 (84.2%) were from Qaem Hospital and 51 (15.8%) from Imam Reza Hospital. Overall, 47.1% of samples of Imam Ghaem hospital (128 samples) and 33.3% of samples of Imam Reza hospital (17 samples) were positive (p = 0.071). Overall, the most prevalent organisms were Bacillus (54 samples, 16.7%) followed by Staphylococcus epidermidis (22 samples, 6.8%) and Staphylococcus saprophyticus (16 samples, 0.5%). Others were consisted of Acinetobacter, Enterobacter and pseudomonas spp.

Bacillus species have a high persistence in the environment due to Sporulation and their removal will be an indicator of proper environmental health. The presence of potentially pathogenic bacteria in the hospital environment reveals the importance of environmental health control and monitoring programs.