Pereira Rogério Dos Santos, Ueno Mariko
Departamento de Biologia, Universidade de Taubaté, Taubaté, SP.
Rev Soc Bras Med Trop. 2008 Sep-Oct;41(5):492-5. doi: 10.1590/s0037-86822008000500011.
Concern exists regarding the real possibility of public health threats caused by pathogenic agents that are carried by urban ants. The present study had the objective of isolating and identifying the microorganisms that are associated with ants in hospital environments. One hundred and twenty-five ants of the same species were collected from different units of a university hospital. Each ant was collected using a swab soaked with physiological solution and was transferred to a tube containing brain heart infusion broth and incubated at 35 degrees C for 24 hours. From each tube, with growth, inoculations were made into specific culturing media, to isolate any microorganisms. The ants presented a high capacity for carrying microorganism groups: spore-producing Gram-positive bacilli 63.5%, Gram-negative bacilli 6.3%, Gram-positive cocci 23.1%, filamentous fungi 6.7% and yeast 0.5%. Thus, it can be inferred that ants may be one of the agents responsible for disseminating microorganisms in hospital environments.
人们担心城市蚂蚁携带的病原体对公共卫生构成实际威胁。本研究旨在分离和鉴定医院环境中与蚂蚁相关的微生物。从一所大学医院的不同科室收集了125只同种蚂蚁。每只蚂蚁用浸有生理盐水的拭子采集，转移到含有脑心浸液肉汤的试管中，在35℃下培养24小时。从每个有生长的试管中，接种到特定的培养基中，以分离任何微生物。蚂蚁携带微生物群体的能力很强：产芽孢革兰氏阳性杆菌63.5%，革兰氏阴性杆菌6.3%，革兰氏阳性球菌23.1%，丝状真菌6.7%，酵母菌0.5%。因此，可以推断蚂蚁可能是医院环境中传播微生物的媒介之一。
