Reprocessing practices for gastrointestinal endoscopes: a multicentre study in Egyptian university hospitals

The aim of this study was to assess the practices of health care workers during gasterointestinal endoscope reprocessing, evaluate their knowledge about reprocessing, and verify their compliance with laboratory and microbiological tests in endoscopy units at Zagazig University and Fayoum University hospitals. All nursing staff on duty from 10 endoscopy units, with 16 flexible endoscopes, were included. Knowledge and practice were assessed by a questionnaire and a checklist. The mean knowledge score was 7.5 [SD 1.9], which was poor. Compliance was 90% for disinfection and 74% for endoscope processing after disinfection. Before reuse after cleaning, no organisms were detected in 5 endoscopes, while 8 colony forming units were found in 2. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the most common organism isolated. Strict implementation of the reprocessing guidelines are needed, especially the pre-cleaning stage and leak testing. Repeating high level disinfection after storage and before use must be followed

Changing in the Epidemiology of Tinea Capitis among School Children in Egypt

BACKGROUND: Tinea capitis remains a prevalent health problem among school-aged children. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of tinea capitis among primary school students, in Fayoum, Egypt with identification of etiological agents in both public and private primary schools. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in twelve primary schools. The students were selected from different grades with a total number of 12,128 students. Hair and scalp were clinically examined for any lesions that may suspect tinea capitis and mycological samples were collected for direct microscopy and culture. RESULTS: The prevalence of tinea capitis in the study group was 0.4% and higher in public than private schools (73.5% versus 26.5% respectively). Boys were more affected than girls with boy to girls' ratio 5:1. Intrafamily history of infection was present in 40.8% of tested group while 51% showed low social standard profile. Mycological culture revealed that Microsporum canis was the predominant isolated organism followed by M. audouinii (52% and 36% respectively). CONCLUSION: M. canis is replacing Trichophyton violaceum as an etiology for tinea capitis in Egypt with lower prevalence rate than reported previously.

Conjunctival microbiota and antibiotic resistance pattern in patients submitted to cataract surgery and antibacterial activity of some plant essential oils

The objective of this study was to identify the conjunctival microbiota of patients undergoing cataract surgery and evaluate its antibiotic resistance pattern. Also to in-vitro evaluate the antimicrobial effects of some essential oils against multidrug resistant isolates. Ocular samples were collected using swabs and polymethyl-metaacrylate [PMMA] intraocular lenses from seventy patients submitted to cataract surgery. Isolation and identification of bacteria was performed using conventional microbiological methods. Antibiotic sensitivity was done by disc diffusion method. The sensitivity of 16 essential oils against isolated bacteria was tested using well diffusion method. Thirty six strains were isolated from patients submitted to cataract surgery. Gram positive microorganisms represent 75% of the isolates with coagulase-negative Staphylococci [CoNS] the most common isolate [47.2%] followed by S.aureus [19.4%], whereas gram negative occurred in 25% of cases, with Moraxella spp. the most frequent Gram negative isolate. Antibiotic sensitivity test revealed that the highest antibiotic resistance was exhibited against ceftazidime [100%] followed by clindamycin [86%], ampicillin [80.5%], erythromycin [72.2%] and tetracycline [69.4%]. Gentamycin displayed the best activity [55.5%] followed by chloramphenicol [44.4%] and vancomycin [38.88%]. Fifteen essential oils showed antibacterial effect against one or more bacterial strains. The most potent oils were peppermint oil, dill oil, cinnamon oil which showed promising inhibitory activity against most tested bacterial species, whereas cotton, ginger, chamomile, blue green, cod liver and parsley oil were the least active against tested strains. Olive oil failed to inhibit any of the tested strains. In general, St. pneumoniae was the most susceptible organism as it inhibited by ten oils. Our results indicate a promising antibacterial effect of peppermint oil, dill oil and cinnamon oil against conjunctival microorganisms