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EMPHNET 7th Regional Conference 2021: “Towards Public Health Resilience in the EMR: Breaking Barriers” (62)

Published on in Vol 8, No 1 (2022): Jan-Dec

Preprints (earlier versions) of this paper are available at https://preprints.jmir.org/preprint/36591, first published .
Bacterial Contamination of Intensive Care Units, Sana’a City, Yemen, 2019

Bacterial Contamination of Intensive Care Units, Sana’a City, Yemen, 2019

Bacterial Contamination of Intensive Care Units, Sana’a City, Yemen, 2019

Authors of this article:

Mohammed Al Amad1 Author Orcid Image ;   Intesar Abdulsalam Al Shargabi2 ;   Samar Nasher1 ;   Sami Ahmed Al-Haidari3 ;   Riham Al-Dubaiee1 ;   Suaad Ameen Moghalles1 ;   Khaled Abdullah Al Moayad3
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    Abstract

    1Yemen Field Epidemiology Training Program, Sana'a, Yemen

    2National Center of Public Health Laboratories, Sana'a', Yemen

    3Ministry of Health, Sana'a, Yemen

    Corresponding Author:

    Mohammed Al Amad, MD

    Yemen Field Epidemiology Training Program

    Ministry of Public Health and Population

    Sana'a

    Yemen

    Phone: 967 770123354

    Email: mohdalemad@yahoo.com


    Background: Bacterial contamination of the intensive care unit (ICU) is one of the risk factors responsible for the high incidence of nosocomial infections that can significantly increase the mortality among ICU patients.

    Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the bacterial contamination and pathogen isolates from the ICU environment of hospitals in Sana’a city, Yemen.

    Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was performed in Sana’a city hospitals from December 5 to December 15, 2019. All hospitals that frequently reported mortality among ICU patients were included. A sterile swab moistened in sterile normal saline was used for sample collection. Seven ICU sites were targeted, including the patient’s bed, bedside table, masks of the oxygen-supplying apparatus, intravenous (IV) stand, door knob, wall, and floor, and two samples from each site were collected. The samples were transported to the National Center of Public Health Laboratory for microbiological culture.

    Results: A total of 112 swabs were collected from the ICUs of eight hospitals. Among these, 87 (77.7%) yielded positive bacterial growth and 109 bacterial strains were isolated, including 62.4% (n=68) gram-positive and 37.6% (n=41) gram-negative bacteria. Coagulase-negative Staphylococcus, Staphylococcus aureus, and Bacillus cereus were the predominant gram-positive bacteria isolated, which accounted for 27.5% (n=30), 21.1% (n=23), and 10.1% (n=11) of all 109 bacterial isolates, respectively. Klebsiella species, Pseudomonas species, and Acinetobacter were the main gram-negative isolates obtained, accounting for 12.8% (n=14), 12.8% (n=14), and 11.9% (n=13) of all 109 bacterial isolates, respectively. The common contaminated sites were the patients’ beds/bedside tables (40/109 strains, 36.7%), floors (24/109 strains, 22.0%), walls (15/109 strains, 13.8%), and masks of the oxygen-supplying apparatus (12/109 strains, 11.0%). The door knobs and IV stands were contaminated by 9 strains, representing 8.3% of the total isolated bacteria.

    Conclusions: The contamination of ICU environments was high and patients’ surroundings were the most contaminated areas. Implementations of strict quality standards of hygienic practices and effective cleaning of inanimate surfaces by the hospitals’ infection control units along with periodic monitoring by the health authority are highly recommended.

    iproc 2022;8(1):e36591

    doi:10.2196/36591

    Keywords

    bacterial contamination; intensive care units; Yemen 

    Edited by Y Khader; This is a non–peer-reviewed article. submitted 18.01.22; accepted 19.01.22; published 04.02.22

    Copyright

    ©Mohammed Al Amad, Intesar Abdulsalam Al Shargabi, Samar Nasher, Sami Ahmed Al-Haidari, Riham Al-Dubaiee, Suaad Ameen Moghalles, Khaled Abdullah Al Moayad. Originally published in Iproceedings (https://www.iproc.org), 04.02.2022.

    This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in Iproceedings, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://www.iproc.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.