A COMPARISON OF METHODS OF SAMPLING HOSPITAL TEXTILES FOR DETECTION OF PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA AS A CAUSE OF HOSPITAL INFECTIONS

Bolnišnične okužbe so eden izmed vodilnih vzrokov podaljšanega bivanja in zdravljenja pacienta. Prenašalci bolnišničnih okužb so bakterije, virusi in glive. Pseudomonas aeruginosa je ena izmed bakterij, ki povzročajo bolnišnične okužbe in sicer, okužbe sečil, dihal ter bakteriemijo. Zaradi odpornosti na večino antibiotikov predstavlja velik problem pri zdravljenju okužb. Bakterija Pseudomonas aeruginosa se lahko nahaja tudi na bolnišničnih tekstilijah, kamor se prenese preko pacientovih izločkov, zato je detekcija mikroorganizmov na bolnišničnih tekstilijah zelo pomembna. Za vzorčenje tekstilij se najpogosteje uporablja metoda vzorčenja z RODAC agar ploščicami, s katero zajamemo mikroorganizme na površini tekstilij. V diplomski nalogi smo preizkusili dve metodi vzorčenja tekstilij za preverjanje kontaminacije bolnišničnih tekstilij. Metodo vzorčenja z RODAC agar ploščicami smo primerjali z metodo vzorčenja z aparaturo Morapex A, ki deluje na principu izpiranja mikroorganizmov iz tekstilij. Obe metodi smo preizkusili na umetno kontaminiranih tekstilijah in tekstilijah iz realnega okolja. Prednost vzorčenja z aparaturo Morapex A je, da lahko z izpiranjem zajamemo tudi tiste mikroorganizme, ki so globlje v tekstilu. Rezultati raziskave so pokazali, da je metoda vzorčenja tekstilij z izpiranjem z aparaturo Morapex A učinkovitejša, kot metoda jemanja odtisov z RODAC agar ploščicami.Nosocomial infections are one of the leading causes of prolonged treatment for patients. Common carriers of nosocomial infections are bacteria, viruses and fungi. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the bacteria that causes hospital-acquired infections and most commonly causes urinary tract infections, respiratory tract infections and bacteremia. The resistance of P. aeruginosa to the majority of antibiotics is a major problem in the treatment of infection. Pseudomonas aeruginosa can be transferred through the patient\u27s secretions on the hospital textiles. Therefore the detection of microorganisms on the hospital textiles is very important. For sampling of hospital textiles, the most common used method is sampling with RODAC agar plates, which captures microorganisms on the surface of textiles. In our experiment we tested two methods for checking the contamination of hospital textiles. The method of sampling with RODAC agar plates was compared to the method of sampling with the Morapex A device that works on the principle of eluting microorganisms from textiles. Both methods were tested on artificially contaminated textiles and textiles from the real environment. The advantage of sampling with the Morapex A device is that microorganisms that are deeper in textiles are also captured. The results showed that the method of eluting with the Morapex A device is more effective than the method of taking samples with RODAC agar plates