BACTERIA ASSOCIATED WITH LABORATORY WORK BENCHES IN MICROBIOLOGY DEPARTMENT

ABSTRACT

Frequent environmental contaminants within microbiology laboratory create not only diagnostic uncertainties but also pose major risk for health care workers and patients.This study therefore sought to isolate and identify the common laboratory contaminant bacteria with an ultimate goal to checkmate the presence of harmful microorganisms that could affect humans as well as cause microbial contamination to microbiological cultures. The study was conducted in the laboratory of Microbiology Department University of Benin, from 2nd of June 2020 to 10th of July 2020. A total of 10 samples were collected from different areas of the laboratory workbenches before and after treatment with 1% Jik solution. A total of 25 bacterial contaminants were isolated and identified by various biochemical tests, and identification was done using conventional methods. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was conducted using the Kirby–Bauer method. Out of the 25 isolates, 7 (28.00%) was Escherichia coli which was the most common contaminant. 5 (20.00%) was Pseudomonas aeruginosa which was the second most common contaminant, together with Proteus spp. 4 (16.00%) was both Enterobacter aerogenes and Salmonella spp. which showed minimum bacterial contaminants. High average prevalence of 28% was observed for E. coli indicating a high proportion of faecal contamination in the laboratory. The result of the antibiotic test against these isolates revealed a generally high resistance, characterized by average MAR index of 0.48. Precaution should be taken to get rid of these organisms from laboratory by means of proper laboratory disinfection and sterilization as well as personal hygiene of laboratory workers. From our study we conclude that laboratories are contaminated with a variety of Gram-negative pathogenic bacteria whose bacterial load can be reduced by treatment with 1% Jik solution.