Isolation of Potential Pathogenic Bacteria from Pregnant Genital Tract and Delivery Room in Erbil Hospital

Abstract

Background: Numerous studies have shown that hospital surfaces and frequently used medical equipment become contaminated by a variety of pathogenic organisms and then spread infection to others. The hypothesis that environmental microorganism cause human diseases arises from two facts, firstly, our interaction with the inanimate environment is constant and close, secondly environmental objects are usually contaminated often with important human pathogens. Objective: To investigate the hygienic conditions of delivery room and vaginal contamination with pathogenic bacteria of referred pregnant women to the Erbil Maternity Hospitals. Material and Methods: Fourty three vaginal swab were collected from pregnant women who attending to Erbil Maternity Hospital randomly and 13 swab samples from 6 delivery room during the period from January till July 2014. The swabs sticks for bacterial culture were inoculated on MacConkey, Mannitol salt and blood agar plates and incubated at 37°C for 18-24 hrs. Later bacterial isolates were identified by standard microbiological techniques and antibiotic susceptibility tests were done according to Clinical Laboratory Standard Instituted (CLSI) [13]. Bacterial growth had been observed in 47 cultures (83.9%).The most dominants bacteria isolated from birth space were E.coli and Staph. aureus, while from vaginal swab isolate in addition to those genera other bacterial genera were isolated including Klebsiella sp., Proteus sp., Pseudomonas aeroginosa, Staph. albus. The delivery room isolated bacteria showed clear resistance toward the antibiotics Cefexime, Amoxicillin, Methicillin, Clindamycine, Norfloxacin, Amikacin, Trimetheprime,Cefotaxime, Ampicillin and Tobramycin but sisnsitive to Vancomycine, Ciprofloxacin. Conclusion: The finding of established bacterial pathogens from delivery room and showing a high resistance to commonly used antibiotics portends danger for surgical patients. This problem could be controlled to some extent by restriction of purposeless uses of antibiotics and by eliminating contamination in the environment of hospitals by applying strict quality standards concerned with the hygienic manners both of patients and health staff, and the performance of invasive procedures using aseptic technique.