Ten Thousand-Fold Higher than Acceptable Bacterial Loads Detected in Kenyan Hospital Environments: Targeted Approaches to Reduce Contamination Levels

Erick Odoyo, Daniel Matano, Martin Georges, Fredrick Tiria, Samuel Wahome, Cecilia Kyany’a and Lillian Musila
Additional contact information
Erick Odoyo: United States Army Medical Research Directorate-Africa, Nairobi P.O. Box 606-00621, Kenya
Daniel Matano: Kenya Medical Research Institute, Nairobi P.O. Box 54848-00200, Kenya
Martin Georges: United States Army Medical Research Directorate-Africa, Nairobi P.O. Box 606-00621, Kenya
Fredrick Tiria: United States Army Medical Research Directorate-Africa, Nairobi P.O. Box 606-00621, Kenya
Samuel Wahome: Independent Researcher, Nairobi P.O. Box 64-20300, Kenya
Cecilia Kyany’a: United States Army Medical Research Directorate-Africa, Nairobi P.O. Box 606-00621, Kenya
Lillian Musila: United States Army Medical Research Directorate-Africa, Nairobi P.O. Box 606-00621, Kenya

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 13, 1-14

Abstract: Microbial monitoring of hospital surfaces can help identify target areas for improved infection prevention and control (IPCs). This study aimed to determine the levels and variations in the bacterial contamination of high-touch surfaces in five Kenyan hospitals and identify the contributing modifiable risk factors. A total of 559 high-touch surfaces in four departments identified as high risk of hospital-acquired infections were sampled and examined for bacterial levels of contamination using standard bacteriological culture methods. Bacteria were detected in 536/559 (95.9%) surfaces. The median bacterial load on all sampled surfaces was 6.0 × 10 4 CFU/cm 2 (interquartile range (IQR); 8.0 × 10 3 –1.0 × 10 6 ). Only 55/559 (9.8%) of the sampled surfaces had acceptable bacterial loads, <5 CFU/cm². Cleaning practices, such as daily washing of patient sheets, incident rate ratio (IRR) = 0.10 [95% CI: 0.04–0.24], providing hand wash stations, IRR = 0.25 [95% CI: 0.02–0.30], having running water, IRR = 0.19 [95% CI: 0.08–0.47] and soap for handwashing IRR = 0.21 [95% CI: 0.12–0.39] each significantly lowered bacterial loads. Transporting dirty linen in a designated container, IRR = 72.11 [95% CI: 20.22–257.14], increased bacterial loads. The study hospitals can best reduce the bacterial loads by improving waste-handling protocols, cleaning high-touch surfaces five times a day and providing soap at the handwash stations.

Keywords: infection prevention and control; bacterial loads; high-touch surfaces (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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