Isolation of pathogenic microbes from beauty Salons in Ranya, Iraq

Abstract

Background: Beauty salons can provide a suitable medium for growth of pathogenic microorganisms. This may cause potential health risk to their clients including infection. These health risks vary depending on the nature of the service, the tools and equipment that are used in beauty salons. Skin and eye pathogenicity could be communicated by sharing cosmetics in beauty salons. Methods: One hundred and twenty moistened cotton swab samples were randomly collected from ten different hair and beauty salons in Ranya city at Sulaymania, Iraq to determine various types of microorganisms present on usable equipment including Spongy, Wax, Lipstick, Eyeliner, Mascara, and foundation. All the collected samples were immediately transported to the laboratory for microbiological examination according to standard method. Results: Microbiological growth occurred in 67% among all 120 collected samples. Most of growth samples were bacteria. The lower growth were Fungi. Among bacterial growth were Staphylococcus sp (37%), Streptococcus sp (12%), and Enterococcus (5%) consequentially; while other samples were fungi candida albicans (13%). Conclusion: It was observed that the major cause of contamination of salon tools is repetitive usage of beauty salon tools without considering the hygienic condition. This can cause serious skin infections. Training, supervising and monitoring are required to facilitate the effective methods of sterilization, which prevents from spreading infections caused by pathogens on salon tools and instruments.