Abstract
Background: Airborne particles that contain Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) can be transferred from hospital air and environmental surfaces. It presents special risks of infections to patients and personnel and imposes exorbitant financial costs and human losses.
Objective: This research has been done to determine the prevalence of MRSA in the air and on surfaces of different hospitals wards.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, surfaces and air samples were collected from 12 wards of new and old-building hospitals, following identification of MRSA by detection of pvl, mecA and vanA genes using Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay in 2017. Both hospitals are located in the north of Qazvin city (population: 596,932), Iran, with 255 and 230 patients’ beds respectively. Also, some environmental properties of the sampling areas were measured. The data were analyzed using IBM-SPSS version 23, parametric tests and Pearson product-moment correlation.
Results: S. aureus and Gram-negative bacteria were detected in 59.6 and 80% of the samples. The Intensive care unit (ICU) with 7.5% MRSA prevalence was the most contaminated ward. S. aureus was detected in 20% of the surface samples while MRSA was isolated in 16.7%. There are positive correlations between bacterial contamination levels of the air, surfaces and the CO2 concentration of the sampling spaces (p<0.0001).
Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, air and surfaces of hospitals are contaminated with MRSA. Because of significant correlation between bioaerosol concentration and fomites, to reduce and control prevalence of MRSA, using air cleaning systems as well as decontamination of surfaces is suggested.
Keywords: Hospital, Cross Infection, Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Air Pollution, Environmental Microbiology
