Evaluation of Indoor Air for Bacteria Organisms and their Antimicrobial Susceptibility Profiles in a Government Health Institution

Aim: To evaluate environmental bacteria isolates from a government health institution and their antimicrobial profile.

Place and Duration of Study: The sampled location was the mini Mile 3 Model Primary Health Centre, Port Harcourt, Nigeria for three months (January-March).

Methodology: Indoor air quality was investigated using the sedimentation technique in which Petri plates containing growth media were exposed to the atmosphere of the sites under study. Plates were exposed for 15 minutes at each given site. The children, post-natal, outpatient and the injection wards were the sites under study. Nutrient agar and Mannitol Salt agar were the media used to enumerate the total bacteria and Staphylococci respectively. Commercially prepared antibiotic discs with known concentrations were used to test for susceptibility of these microbes using the disc diffusion technique and test isolates were standardized using the McFarland standard.

Results: Four bacterial groups isolated were Bacillus sp (20.41%), Micrococcus sp (28.57%), Serratia sp (10.21%) and Staphylococcus sp (40.82%). The mean count for the total heterotrophic bacteria and Staphylococci counts in log10Cfu/m3 for morning sections ranged from (3.41±021-3.84±0.09) and (3.15±0.14 - 3.25±0.13) respectively; while counts for the evening sections ranged from (3.50±0.11- 3.91±0.05) (3.24±0.42 – 3.48±0.04) respectively. There was a significant difference between the morning and evening hours of the total Staphylococci at P=0.05. All the bacterial isolates were 100% susceptible to ciprofloxacin. Serratia species were 100% susceptible to ofloxacin. Staphylococci and Micrococcus species were 100% resistant to ampicillin which was 100% effective against Bacillus sp.

Conclusion: The microbial loads in this study were very high. Microbes isolated in this study are pathogenic and are known to be associated with nosocomial infections. Ciprofloxacin, gentamycin, pefloxacin and ofloxacin are best recommended for infections arising from this site.