Monitoring of Air and Water Bacterial Load in the Operation Theatres and Intensive Care Units of Selected Hospitals in Dhaka city: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Hospital milieu monitoring is an essential component for controlling healthcare associated infections (HCAIs) as it serves as the reservoir for pathogenic microbes. Aim of this study was to identify the bacterial load in Intensive care units (ICU) and Operation theaters (OT) air and water sources of selected tertiary care hospitals. Material & Methods: The study was organized in Microbiology department, BIRDEM General Hospital. A sum total 28 air samples & 6 water samples were collected from three selected hospitals and those were processed according to the set of protocols. Results: From air sampling, highest load of bacteria was found 480 CFU/dm²/hr in Hospital C ICU, 38.40 ± 9.99 CFU/dm²/hr in pre-OT samples & 218.2±43.35 CFU/dm²/hr in intra OT samples of Hospital C. From water sampling, unacceptable level of coliforms was found in all three hospitals. Among the non-pathogens, 24% – 37% Micrococcus spp. (normal flora) and 2% -18% Bacillus spp. (contaminants) were found in the OTs. Whereas pathogens found were Acinetobacter spp. (20.7%) followed by Pseudomonas spp. (19.4%), Klebsiella spp. (12.1%) & S. aureus (9.2%) in the ICUs. Conclusion: It could be deduced from the study that environmental sources such as air and water contaminations with multidrug resistant pathogens are an ultimate risk factor for all related to the healthcare settings, specially the indoor patients.