RESUMO
El uso de teléfonos móviles se ha generalizado en las instituciones de salud, inclusive en áreas con riesgos microbiológicos definidos, como los laboratorios clínicos. En el presente estudio, se investigó la presencia de bacterias potencialmente patógenas, en los teléfonos móviles del personal de laboratorio de cuatro instituciones hospitalarias de Maracaibo, Venezuela. Se realizó el cultivo microbiológico cualitativo de hisopados de la superficie de 200 teléfonos. Mediante un cuestionario se indagó la adherencia del personal a las prácticas higiénicas estándar durante la jornada laboral. En 83% de los teléfonos se evidenció contaminación bacteriana y en 29% se identificó agentes con potencial patogénico definido, predominando Enterococcus spp., anaerobios estrictos, Staphylococcus aureus y enterobacterias. Algunas cepas patógenas presentaron patrones de resistencia sugestivos de gérmenes nosocomiales. Un elevado porcentaje del personal abordado admitió no aplicar medidas higiénicas mínimas al utilizar sus teléfonos en el ambiente laboral. Los resultados microbiológicos obtenidos, aunados al bajo nivel de compromiso del personal de laboratorio con las prácticas higiénicas estándar, permiten atribuirle un importante riego microbiológico al uso de teléfonos móviles en los laboratorios clínicos, que podría afectar no sólo a los dueños y manipuladores habituales de tales dispositivos, sino también extenderse a sus manipuladores ocasionales a nivel extrahospitalario.
The use of mobile phones is widespread in health institutions, including areas with defined microbiological risk as clinical laboratories. In this study, the presence of potentially pathogenic bacteria was investigated in mobile phones of laboratory personnel of four hospitals of Maracaibo, Venezuela. Qualitative microbiological culture of swabs from the surface of 200 mobile phones was performed. A questionnaire was applied, to evaluate adherence of staff to standard hygiene practices during the workday. In 83% of phones bacterial contamination was evidenced, and 29% had bacteria with defined pathogenic potential, predominantly Enterococcus spp., strict anaerobes bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus and enterobacteria. Some pathogenic strains showed resistance patterns suggestive of nosocomial bacteria. A high percentage of staff refused to apply minimal hygiene measures to manipulate their phones during the workday. Microbiological results, analyzed together with the low level of adherence of personnel to the standard hygienic practices, allow attributing an important hazard to mobiles phone use in clinical laboratories, which could involve not only owners of such devices and usual manipulators, but also could extend to his occasional manipulators in the community.
RESUMO
This study was conducted to estimate the safety level of non-cooking and cooking processed foods to propose the sanitary management of foods donated to foodbanks. The time and temperature were measured and the microbial levels of aerobic plate counts (APC), coliforms, E. coli, Salmonella spp., S. aureus, B. cereus, and E. coli O157:H7 were analyzed on ten food items donated to seven foodbanks. The amount of cooked foods donated to each foodbank was about 10 to 40 servings. All foodbanks hired a supervisor and had at least one refrigerator/freezer and one temperature-controlled vehicle, but only four foodbanks had the separate offices to manage the foodbank operation. The flow of donated foods was gone through the steps; production, meal service and holding at donator, collection by foodbank, transport (or holding after transport) and distribution to recipients. After production, the levels of APC of both non-cooking and cooking processed foods were complied with the standards by Ministry of Education & Human Resources Development, and were not increased till distribution. Only the level of coliforms in dried squid & cucumber salad (1.5x10(3) CFU/g) was not met the standards. E. coli and other pathogens were not detected in all tested samples. The microbial levels of delivery vessels and work tables were satisfactory, but the APC levels of two of four tested serving tables (6.9x10(3) and 5.3x10(3) CFU/100cm2) and the coliforms level of one (1.1x10(3) CFU/100cm2) were over the standards. The air-borne microflora level in serving room was estimated as satisfactory. It took about 3.0 to 6.5 hours from after-production to distribution and the temperatures of donated foods were exposed mostly to temperature danger zone, which had a high potential of microbial growth. These results imply that a checklist to monitor time and temperature in each step should be provided and the employees involving foodbank operation should be properly educated to ensure the safety of donated foods.