Bacterial analysis of air sample from the operating room of a tertiary hospital in Muntinlupa City

• Main Authors: Creencia, Pauline Claire C., Leonardo, Maria Isabel R., Rabago, Cathryne Denese F.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2013
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/11766
• Institution: De La Salle University

Air sample was collected from the operating room of a tertiary government hospital located in Muntinlupa City. Sampling was conducted in August 2012 using an Anderson six-stage cascade impactor. The bacterial load was found to be 73 CFU/m3 of air, computed based on a flow rate of 2.35 m3 of airperhr and a collection period of 20 min. The 57 bacterial isolates that were cultured from the air sample were studied for their phenotypic characteristics in terms of colonial and microscopic morphology after Gram staining, and their reactions in different biochemical test media. Polymerase chain reaction using universal primers for 16S rDNA produced the expected 1.5kb amplicons in 42 isolates. Nine did not yield the amplicons, while six cultures were not maintained for this procedure. The PCR amplicons were sequenced using the forward and reverse primers, and the identities were determined using the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool of The National Center for Biotechnology Information after alignment of the forward and reverse sequences of each isolate. Results of the 16S rDNA sequencing showed that the bacterial isolates belonged to seven (7) genera, with most isolates belonging to the Gram positive group: the cocci Staphylococcus spp. (14 isolates), Micrococcus spp. (10 isolates), Kocuria spp. (2 isolates) and the bacillus Bacillus spp. (6 isolates). The remaining ten (10) were Gram negative bacilli, namely: Acinetobacter spp. (5 isolates), Enterobacter spp. (3 isolates) and Pseudomonas spp. (2 isolates). It is worth noting that the species belonging to these genera are known pathogens or are opportunistic pathogens that have been reported to be involved in healthcare-associated infections (HCAI). The results call for continuous vigilance in the implementation of infection control measures in the hospital to prevent the occurrence of HCAI among the patients and hospital personnel.