Journal of Research in Environmental Health

Journal of Research in Environmental Health

Microbial Contamination of Tools and Equipment Used in Educational Laboratories of Kashan University of Medical Sciences in 2018

Authors
Ali Nazari-Alam 1
Hasan Rahmani 2
Hossein Akbari 3
Mohammad Ali Asadi 4
Maedeh Qavami 5
Maryam Bahari 5
Nahid Yesliani 5
1 Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran; Email: nazarialam.ali@gmail.com.
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.
3 Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Health Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran
4 Instructor of the Department of Parasitology and Mycology, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran
5 Bachelor of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Health, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran
10.22038/jreh.2024.24892
Abstract
Background and Objective: Laboratories, due to their large workforce, diverse sample types, and contamination by various pathogenic agents, are considered high-risk environments for the transmission and spread of numerous diseases. This study aimed to investigate bacterial and fungal contamination of laboratory equipment in the educational laboratories at Kashan University of Medical Sciences.

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in 2018 at Kashan University of Medical Sciences. A single consistent sampler performed a random sampling of 155 devices. After data collection, the frequency of microbial and fungal contamination was calculated for each laboratory and each piece of equipment. Frequency tables were constructed based on the type of bacteria or fungi and the colonies grown.

Results: Among the 155 samples collected and cultured from laboratory equipment across various faculties, the highest percentage of contamination (83.22%) was observed with the Bacillus species (129 cases), followed by Pseudomonas species (17 cases, 10.96%) and Escherichia coli (17 cases, 10.96%). Only 7 samples were free of contamination, indicating widespread contamination across most equipment.

Conclusion: The results indicate that the majority of educational laboratory equipment at Kashan University of agents Medical Sciences is contaminated with both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, as well as fungal.
 
 
Open Access Policy: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Keywords
Microbial Contamination
Fungal Contamination
Laboratory Equipment
Kashan University of Medical Sciences
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