Surveillance of bacterial load and multi-drug resistant bacteria on bedsheets in a primary health care unit

ABSTRACT

A patient is in close proximity to different types of textiles in hospital environment, which contribute to the transfer of drug-resistant bacteria in healthcare settings. This study was undertaken to estimate the temporal variations in bacterial load on bedsheets in a primary healthcare unit in Delhi. Data were collected for a period of 7 months. Antibiotic susceptibility testing of isolates was performed. The mean count of Acinetobacter spp. was highest (2.10 × 10² CFU/cm²), and Klebsiella spp. showed the least mean count (7.5 × 10¹ CFU/cm²). The mean bacterial count over the period showed maximum bacterial load for most microbial groups in June, and minimum in November. Enterococcus faecalis and Streptococcus spp. were highly resistant to different antibiotics, while Acinetobacter spp. and Group A Streptococcus showed the least resistance toward the antibiotics tested. Bacterial counts on bedsheets were found to vary with the time of the year, indicating that environmental factors affect bacterial load.

KEYWORDS:

• Infection
• bacterial load
• temperature
• textiles
• drug-resistant bacteria

Acknowledgments

Investigators thank the administration and staff of the healthcare unit for extending their support in the current study. This work was supported by Grand Challenge scheme (MI1798G) of Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India. SV wishes to acknowledge fellowship received from DST-INSPIRE (IF160213) towards her doctoral work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Grand Challenge scheme (MI1798G) of IIT Delhi, New Delhi, India; Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, IF160213].