Molecular Characterization of Indoor air Microorganisms of a Model Primary Health Care in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria

Aims: The quality of indoor air in some government health institutions in Port Harcourt was evaluated with a view to determining the level of microbial contamination and to carry out molecular identification of the microorganism in the indoor air.

Study Design: Experimental analysis of the Indoor air of frequently used wards.

Place and Duration of Study: Model Primary Health Care in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria, between January 2018 and March 2018.

Methodology: The open plate, impingement technique was used in this study. In this technique, nutrient agar, and mannitol salt agar plates were exposed to the ambient air of the sites studied in duplicates for 15 minutes so as to enumerate and identify the heterotrophic bacteria and staphylococcal species.

Results: The mean heterotrophic bacteria and staphylococcal loads for the morning period of the Health centre ranged from 1.8×103 to 4.1×103 and 8.6×102 to 2.5×103 Cfu/m3, respectively, while the mean heterotrophic bacteria and staphylococcal load for the evening session ranged from 3.5×103 to 5.1×103 and 8.9×102 to 1.7×103 Cfu/m3, respectively. Bacillus cereus, Chryseobacterium sp, Proteus mirabilis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Staphylococcus epidermidis were the bacteria isolated.

Conclusion: The bacterial isolates in this study could contaminate hospital equipment and could cause nosocomial infections if not properly managed. Also, the bacterial loads were very high and exceeds suggested limit for air microflora.