AIRBORNE BACTERIA ISOLATES FROM STUDENT HOSTELS

ABSTRACT

The indoor air quality has been an issue of public health concern by scientific community because of its negative impact upon health especially as people spend more time indoors than outdoors (WHO, 2010). This study was carried out to enumerate isolate and identify airborne bacteria isolates from the hostel rooms, as well as to determine the public health significance of the bacterial isolates and the antibiotic susceptibility of the bacteria isolates. The air samples were collected into cates by exposing sterile agar plates (settle plate method) for 15 minutes using 90mm diameter Petri dishes. In total, nine (9) samples were collected all together from the three different rooms located in EDPA (Ugbowo). These sampling procedures were done once a week, over three-week period. Following sample collection, all specimens were transported to the laboratory and subsequently incubated at a temperature of 37°C for a duration of 24 hrs. The bacteria enumeration was determined and converted to cfu/m3 and the type of grown bacteria was identified using different tests, such as Gram staining and biochemical methods. The results showed that the highest count (26.55x102 ) was recorded in week 3 at sampling location point 2, while the lowest count (5.23x102 ) was recorded in week 3 at sampling point 1. The result of this studies shows that the bacterial isolated which are Staphylococcus spp. Micrococcus spp. and Bacillus spp. may be the potential cause of several infections to the students living in the hostels which may be due to overcrowding, limited indoor air and higher activities of the occupants.