Assessment of Parasites and Bacterial Contamination of Office Door Handles in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State

Abstract

Microorganisms are present on all surfaces, to which they were carried by many direct and indirect methods of transmission. Bacteria and Parasites contaminating office door handles in Nnamdi Azikiwe University were assessed between June and November, 2019. The buildings and the door handles were randomly selected. Sterile swabs moistened in sterile normal saline were used to swab the door handles in a tri-directional manner. The swabs were cultured and subcultured onto nutrient, MacConkey and Salmonella-Shigella agar plates for bacterial growth. The specimens were then examined for parasites using Zinc Sulphate floatation and formol-ether sedimentation techniques. Of the 432 door handles examined, 136 (30.8%) were contaminated. The highest number of contaminated doors were found in Medical Centre 41 (30.1%) and the least in Faculty of Social Sciences Complex 10 (7.4%). E. histolytica 52 (38.2%) was the highest parasite encountered while E. vermicularis 2 (1.5%) was the least. The proportion of infected doors as well as the distribution of different species parasites in the door handles of different complexes examined was significant (P<0.05). Of 432 office door handles examined, 263 (60.9%) yielded bacterial growth. Female hostel 72 (27.4%) had more bacterial contamination while Faculty of Social Sciences 25 (9.5%) had the least. Staphylococcus spp 54 (20.5%) was the highest bacteria isolated, followed by Escherichia 53 (20.2%) while Klebsiella 53 (20.2%) was the least. The distribution of different species of bacteria in the door handles in different complexes was significant (P<0.05). Infectious diseases from microbial contaminated door handles are a potential threat to public health and safety therefore certain measures should be taken such as aggressive and frequent cleaning methods and good hand washing to reduce the incidence of bacterial and parasite transmission and contamination.