Bacterial profile and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of isolates from inanimate objects used by healthcare professionals at Debre Markos Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia

• Published in: PloS one 2024-11, Vol.19 (11), p.e0313474
• Main Authors: Kindie, Senedu, Mengistu, Getachew, Kassahun, Mulatu, Admasu, Abebaw, Dilnessa, Tebelay
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acid resistance; Adult; Agar; Ampicillin; Analysis; Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; Antibiotics; Antimicrobial agents; Bacteria; Bacteria - drug effects; Bacteria - isolation & purification; Bacterial infections; Biochemical tests; Biology and Life Sciences; Cell Phone; Cell phones; Cellular telephones; Clindamycin; Complications and side effects; Contamination; Cross infection; Cross Infection - epidemiology; Cross Infection - microbiology; Cross-Sectional Studies; Data analysis; Data collection; Dentists; Dermatology; Developed countries; Developing countries; Disease susceptibility; Disease transmission; Drug resistance; Drug therapy; E coli; Engineering and Technology; Ethiopia - epidemiology; Female; Gram-negative bacteria; Gram-positive bacteria; Gynecology; Hands; Health care; Health Personnel; Health services; Hospitals; Hospitals, Special; Humans; LDCs; Male; Medical personnel; Medicine and Health Sciences; Meropenem; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Microorganisms; Middle Aged; Midwifery; Multidrug resistance; Nosocomial infections; Obstetrics; Pathogens; Patient outcomes; Patients; Penicillin; People and Places; Personal protective equipment; Pharmacy; Population; Prevention; Professionals; Public health; Random sampling; Regression analysis; Regression models; Research and Analysis Methods; Risk factors; Sample size; Sampling methods; Sampling techniques; Sociodemographics; Staphylococcus aureus infections; Staphylococcus epidermidis; Statistical analysis; Statistical sampling; Stethoscopes; Stethoscopes - microbiology; Sulfamethoxazole; Susceptibility; Trimethoprim; Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0313474

Healthcare-associated infections occur in patients under medical care, which is a major public health issue in hospitals worldwide. The prevalence is two to three folds higher in developing countries compared to developed countries. Inanimate objects used by healthcare professionals such as gowns, mobile phones, and stethoscopes are highly prone to bacterial contamination from the healthcare setting. In Ethiopia, there is a paucity of published data on the bacterial profile and susceptibility patterns of an isolates. To determine the bacterial profile and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns from inanimate objects used by healthcare professionals and associated factors at Debre Markos Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was conducted at Debre Markos Comprehensive Specialized Hospital from inanimate objects from April 10, 2023 to June 30, 2023 using simple random sampling technique with lottery method. Socio-demographic data was collected using a structured questionnaire. A swab sample from healthcare professionals' gowns, mobile phones, and stethoscopes were collected and inoculated onto blood agar, chocolate and MacConkey agar. Isolates were identified and characterized by colony morphology, Gram staining and biochemical tests. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed in all isolates by the disk diffusion technique on Muller Hinton agar according to CLSI, 2022 guidelines. Data was entered into EPI-Data and analyzed using SPSS version 25. Logistic regression model was used. Variables with p-value ≤ 0.25 in bivariable logistic regression was fitted to multivariate logistic regression analysis. A p-value of ≤ 0.05 with 95%CI was considered statistically significant. A total of 376 healthcare professionals' inanimate objects were included from 191 study participants. Overall, 60.1% (226/376) (95%CI: 55.1-65) inanimate objects were contaminated. The proportion of bacterial contamination was (65.1%; 82/126), (60.3%; 76/126) and (54.8%; 68/124) for mobile phones, gowns and stethoscopes, respectively. Staphylococcus aureus was the most frequent isolate accounting (22.1%; 83/376) followed by Staphylococcus epidermidis (17.0%; 64/376), Escherichia coli (8.8%; 33/376) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (4.9%; 18/376). Working in gynecology/ obstetrics wards (AOR: 8.69; 95%CI: 1.09-69.41, P = 0.041), did not disinfect mobile phones (AOR: 2.69; 95%CI: 1.15-6.25; P = 0.021) and stethoscopes regularly (AOR: 3.06, 95%CI: 1.2