Date of Award

12-2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Environmental Science

First Advisor

Ibrahim M. Banat, Ph D

Second Advisor

Herbert Nasanze, Ph D.

Third Advisor

AbdulmaJeed S Ameen, Ph. D

Abstract

This is the first attempt to estimate biological indoor pollution in the environment of AI-Ain city. The numbers and types of bacteria and fungi in the air and on the surfaces were measured in AI-Ain hospital and three different types of domestic environments.

Five different types of wards at AI-Ain hospital, medical, surgical, pediatrics, operating theater, and intensive care unit were studied. Their estimated indoor bioaerosols were compared to indoor bioaerosols in three types of dwelling houses, very good, average, and poor quality houses in AI-Ain city. A bacteriological mechanical air sampler, MK2 (Casella London) was used in this study.

The result of this study showed that the same groups of bacteria and fungi isolated from the hospital environment were also found in domestic air samples. The highest number of bacteria in the hospital was found in the pediatric and female medical wards while the lowest were in the operating theater. The number of bacteria in the domestic environment was related to the type of housing; the higher the quality of house the lower the number of micro-organisms. Pathogenic and human related micro-organisms were found to be more prevalent in a hospital environment than in the domestic environment. In general the hospital air microbial counts were comparable to very good quality houses. The commonest species of fungi found in both environments were AsperigiIlus niger. Surface samples in hospital and homes showed that surface micro-organisms originated from air contaminants.

A comparison of hospital and domestic bacterial sensitivity was carried out using coagulase negative Staphylococci (CNS). These were also compared to the patients'n CNS. The sensitivity pattern of CNS indicated that the "environment" or the source of the microbes had some effect upon the micro-organisms. Domestic airborne CNS were very sensitive to nearly all the antibiotics tested while patients harbored the most resistant CNS with hospital airborne CNS falling in between. Hospital airborne agents would seem to be a mixture of patients' strains and the environmental strains possibly brought in by visitors to the hospital.

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