Bacterial Contamination in Health Care Centers: Differences between Urban and Rural Settings

Atmosphere

SandraCabo Verde¹  AntónioSousa Uva²  Beatriz Almeida³  Ana Monteiro³  Edna Ribeiro³  Elisabete Carolino³  Carla Viegas³  Inês Paciência⁴  João Cavaleiro Rufo⁴ 

[1] Centro de Ciências e Tecnologias Nucleares (C2TN), Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1600-560 Lisbon, Portugal;Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 1600-560 Lisbon, Portugal;H&TRC—Health & Technology Research Center, ESTeSL—Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde, Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa, 1600-560 Lisbon, Portugal;Portugal & Centro Hospitalar São João, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal;

关键词: Primary Health Care Centers;    airborne bacteria;    antibiotic resistance profile;    urban;    rural;   

DOI  :  10.3390/atmos12040450

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

This study aims to assess the airborne bioburden of rural and urban Portuguese Primary Health Care Centers (PHCC) using active and passive sampling methods and identify the potential differences in airborne microbiota between both environments. The highest total aerobic mesophilic bacterial load in indoor air were found in the Vaccination Room (448 CFU.m⁻³) in the Rural PHCC and in the Waiting Room (420 CFU.m⁻³) for Urban PHCC. The total coliforms contamination level in indoor air was detected only in the Cleaning Supplies Room (4 CFU.m⁻³) in the Urban PHCC. The most frequent bacteria genera identified was Micrococcus (21% Rural PHCC; 31% Urban PHCC). The surface samples showed a highest total aerobic mesophilic bacterial contamination in the Treatment Room (86 × 10³ CFU.m⁻²) from the Rural PHCC and in the Front Office (200 × 10³ CFU.m⁻²) from the Urban PHCC. The electrostatic dust cloth (EDC) samples showed a highest bacterial load in the Urban PHCC. Total aerobic mesophilic bacterial load in settled dust and in the Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) filter samples in the Urban PHCC (8 CFU.g⁻¹ and 6 × 10³ CFU.m⁻²) presented higher values compared with the Rural PHCC (1 CFU.g⁻¹ and 2.5 × 10³ CFU.m⁻²). Urban PHCC presented higher bacterial airborne contamination compared with the Rural PHCC for the majority of sampling sites, and when compared with the indoor air quality (IAQ) Portuguese legislation it was the Rural PHCC in two sampling places who did not comply with the established criteria.

【 授权许可】

Unknown