Potential sources of contamination on textiles and hard surfaces identified as high-touch sites near the patient environment.

The hospital environment represents an important mediator for the transmission of healthcare-associated infections through direct and indirect hand contact with hard surfaces and textiles. In this study, bacteria on high-touch sites, including textiles and hard surfaces in two care wards in Sweden, were identified using microbiological culture methods and 16S rDNA sequencing. During a cross-sectional study, 176 high-touch hard surfaces and textiles were identified and further analysed using microbiological culture for quantification of total aerobic bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium difficile and Enterobacteriacae. The bacterial population structures were further analysed in 26 samples using 16S rDNA sequencing. The study showed a higher frequency of unique direct hand-textile contacts (36 per hour), compared to hard surfaces (2.2 per hour). Hard surfaces met the recommended standard of ≤ 5 CFU/cm2 for aerobic bacteria and ≤ 1 CFU/cm2 for S. aureus (53% and 35%, respectively) to a higher extent compared to textiles (19% and 30%, respectively) (P = 0.0488). The number of bacterial genera was higher on textiles than on the hard surfaces. Staphylococcus (30.4%) and Corynebacterium (10.9%) were the most representative genera for textiles and Streptococcus (13.3%) for hard surfaces. The fact that a big percentage of the textiles did not fulfil the criteria for cleanliness, combined with the higher bacterial diversity, compared to hard surfaces, are indicators that textiles were bacterial reservoirs and potential risk vectors for bacterial transmission. However, since most of the bacteria found in the study belonged to the normal flora, it was not possible to draw conclusions of textiles and hard surfaces as sources of healthcare associated infections.

Lactobacillus fermentum Ess-1 with unique growth inhibition of vulvo-vaginal candidiasis pathogens.

The aim of this study was to characterize human isolates of Lactobacillus species for their capacity to interfere with the growth of different strains of Candida species in vitro in the search for a potential probiotic. Growth inhibition of Candida species was screened using an agar-overlay method. Inhibiting strains were selected to assay the effect of a cell-free Lactobacillus culture filtrate (LCF) on the growth of isolates of Candida albicans and Candida glabrata. A total of 126 human Lactobacillus isolates was investigated. Eighteen isolates significantly inhibited the growth of C. albicans on agar. The LCF of one of these strains showed strong inhibition of both C. albicans and C. glabrata. This strain was genetically identified as Lactobacillus fermentum and designated L. fermentum Ess-1. Further tests to evaluate the probiotic potential of this strain indicated that L. fermentum Ess-1 strain is a promising probiotic for use in clinical trials to treat and prevent vulvo-vaginal candidiasis.

Microbial Evaluation of the Biotransfer Potential from Surfaces with Bacillus Biofilms after Rinsing and Cleaning Procedures in Closed Food-Processing Systems.

The biotransfer potential in food processing is defined as the ability of the microorganisms present on equipment surfaces both before and after cleaning procedures to contaminate products during processing. Growth of Bacillus biofilms was detectable on both stainless-steel and Teflon© surfaces after all the cleaning procedures. B. cereus and B. subtilis cells adhered more firmly to unsoiled than to soiled surfaces, whereas B. thuringiensis adhered most firmly to soiled surfaces. The results showed that the removal of biofilms from surfaces was more difficult from stainless steel because the microorganisms were attached more tenaciously to rough surfaces. Biofilms were cleaned most effectively from unsoiled surfaces with a simple rinsing procedure; thus the mechanical forces of the flow are very important in the cleaning. The chemical and heat treatments used for cleaning had the greatest impact on the abundance of living microorganisms. All the procedures tested did not remove biofilm material effectively from the surfaces. Significantly more cells were removed when the alkaline phase in the alkaline-acid treatment of the cleaning-in-place (CIP) procedure was prolonged, and ethylene diaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) was used.