National Institute of Fundamental Studies, Kandy, Sri Lanka.
Respiratory Diseases Unit, Teaching Hospital, Kandy, Sri Lanka.
Biomed Res Int. 2019 Jun 12;2019:7393926. doi: 10.1155/2019/7393926. eCollection 2019.
Nosocomial infections, in lay term known as hospital acquired infections, are caused mainly by airborne pathogens found in healthcare facilities and their surroundings. The aim of this study was to quantify and identify bacteria and fungi in a hospital, which is an understudied area of air quality in Sri Lanka. Air samples were collected in agar medium and petri plates containing sterile filter papers. The number of culturable and total airborne microorganisms was estimated by manual counting and fluorescent microscopy, respectively. The morphologically distant bacteria and fungi were identified by DNA sequencing. The statistical analysis revealed significant variances between studied sites ( < 0.05) where Outpatients Department and Respiratory Unit showed higher levels of airborne microbial load. Culturable microbial count was higher at noon (hospital visiting hours) compared to other sampling periods (after hospital visiting hours) within the hospital. Total count of airborne microbes was found to be the highest during the afternoon. The most sensitive zones such as Operating Theatre and Intensive Care Unit showed considerably higher counts of airborne microbes. Identification by molecular means revealed the presence of human pathogens in the hospital air including sp, sp, sp, sp, sp, sp, sp, sp, sp, sp, sp, and sp. In conclusion, the results from this study indicate that the hospital air was generally contaminated. Therefore, the implementation of proactive policies and strategies are needed to monitor hospital air quality in sensitive zones as well as other areas of the hospitals.
医院感染,通俗地称为医院获得性感染,主要由医疗机构及其周围环境中的空气传播病原体引起。本研究旨在定量和鉴定医院空气中的细菌和真菌,这是斯里兰卡空气质量研究较少的领域。空气样本采集在琼脂培养基和含有无菌滤纸的培养皿中。通过人工计数和荧光显微镜分别估计可培养和总空气传播微生物的数量。通过 DNA 测序鉴定形态上不同的细菌和真菌。统计分析显示研究地点之间存在显著差异(<0.05),其中门诊部和呼吸科的空气微生物负荷较高。与医院探视时间以外的其他采样时间相比,医院内中午(医院探视时间)的可培养微生物计数较高。空气中微生物的总计数在下午最高。手术室和重症监护病房等最敏感的区域显示出相当高的空气微生物计数。分子鉴定显示医院空气中存在人类病原体,包括 sp、sp、sp、sp、sp、sp、sp、sp、sp、sp、sp、sp 和 sp。总之,本研究结果表明,医院空气普遍受到污染。因此,需要实施积极的政策和策略来监测敏感区域以及医院其他区域的医院空气质量。