Bacterial Contamination of Door Handles of Commercial Buses in Umuahia Metropolis Abia State

Abstract

Commercial vehicles are all kinds of vehicles used to transport goods and people. Microbiological investigationof publicly touchable surfaces has become an interest to researchers because surfaces that are contaminated can function as reservoir of potential pathogens. This study was carried out to determine the levels of bacterialcontamination on the surfaces of two door handles on public buses within Umuahia metropolis. A total of 70samples, 35 each from the passengers and driver’s door handles surface were collected and analyzed. The analysisinvolved bacterial isolation and identification of organisms by standard microbiological procedures. Theprevalence and bacteria count were carried out. The antibiotic sensitivity pattern of the isolates were done usingthe disc diffusion method. A total number of 73 bacterial organisms were isolated. The following potentialpathogenic bacteria were observed; Staphylococcus aureus (6.8%), Staphylococcus epidermidis (5.5%),Streptococcus faecalis (2.7%), Escherichia coli (6.8%), Klebsiella spp. (5.5%), Enterobacter spp. (4.1%), Pseudomonasaeruginosa (17.8%), Proteus spp. (23.3%), Micrococcus spp. (6.8%) and Bacillus spp. (20.5%). Ofloxacin, Pefloxacinand Gentamicin are effective and exhibited encouraging results while Ampicillin and Trimethoprim were resistant to most isolates. The result actually shows that the door handles of motor vehicle used for public transportationcan be a significant reservoir for spreading potential pathogenic microorganisms.