Microbial Load Comparison Between Clinical and Non-Clinical Student Environments in Al-Kindy College of Medicine
Abstract
The environmental surfaces hygiene of college premises like classrooms play role in spreading different pathogenic bacteria, furthermore a Medical students are often potential vectors for resistant bacteria to their entourage. This study aimed to assess bacterial contamination and their susceptibility to various antimicrobial agents in the educational classroom of Al-Kindy College of medicine in two classrooms: one occupied by clinical visitor and non-clinical visitor students to evaluate and determine its health risk. In this cross-sectional study, different sites of the educational classroom of Al-Kindy College of medicine were studied. Ninety-sex Different swab samples were collected from 8 different sites of college across both classrooms were included in this study for one month, all surface samples were preceded under standard guidelines of isolation and identification of bacteria. A total of 180 bacterial isolates were identified, comprising 82 from the non-clinical visitor classroom and 98 from the clinical visitor classroom. Escherichia coli were the predominant isolate in both classrooms, accounting for (21.11%) of the total isolates, followed by Staphylococcus spp. at (16.67%). Notably, the clinical visitor students' classroom exhibited additional bacterial species, including Clostridium .difficile and Citrobacter spp., which were not detected in the non-clinical visitor students' classroom. The VITEK system also conducted an antimicrobial susceptibility test to the most common bacterial isolates in order to demonstrate the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in college classrooms. Escherichia .coli isolates tested highly sensitive to imipenem and amikacin, but more resistant to carbapenem (CRO) and trimothoprim/sulfamethoxazole (SXT), according to antibiotic susceptibility testing. The increased diversity and bacterial load in the clinical visitor students' classroom could be a result of different hygiene habits or exposure to healthcare settings. According to the findings, the most common bacterial pathogen found in college classrooms is Escherichia.coli isolates. Improved infection control procedures are therefore desperately needed, particularly in settings where clinical training is conducted. To lower the risk of bacterial transmission and the spread of antibiotic-resistant strains, classrooms must be regularly decontaminated.
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