| ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2014 | Volume
: 9
| Issue : 4 | Page : 151-156 |
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Microbiological studies of waste dumpsite in Abia State University Teaching Hospital, Aba
Eugene Chimezie Ndimele1, Uzochukwu Godswill Ekeleme2, Alloysius Chibuike Ogodo3, Nkechi Chinyere Nwachukwu4, Chidiebere James Nnadi4, Elijah Akachukwu Otutu4
1 Department of Primary Health Care, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Abia State University, P.M.B. 2000, Uturu, Abia State, Nigeria
2 Department of Biology and Microbiology, Faculty of Natural and Applied Sciences, Gregory University, P.M.B. 1012, Achara, Uturu, Abia State, Nigeria
3 Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, Federal University, P.M.B. 1020, Wukari, Taraba State, Nigeria
4 Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biological and Physical Sciences, Abia State University, P.M.B. 2000, Uturu, Abia State, Nigeria
Correspondence Address:
Dr. Eugene Chimezie Ndimele
Department of Primary Health Care, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Abia State University, P. M. B. 2000, Uturu, Abia State
Nigeria
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/9783-1230.157058
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Background: Hospital is a vital place for our life, health and well-being. However, the waste generated from hospital can be hazardous, toxic and even lethal because of their high potential for disease transmission. Objective: The work is aimed at doing microbiological studies of hospital waste dumpsite in Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH), Aba. Materials and Methods: The study area was ABSUTH, Aba. Passive air sampling was performed using settle plates, wastewater samples from the drippings, soil sediment underlying solid waste and soil adjacent to the dumpsite were collected from a depth of 0.9-30 cm and was evaluated using the standard microbiological and molecular techniques. Result: The result of the total microbial count of air samples within the waste dumpsite and reception unit of ABSUTH, Aba revealed that the total viable count (TVC) was 182 ± 0.5 air within waste dumpsite (AW) and 70 ± 2.0 air within reception unit (AR), the total coliform count (TCC) was 17 ± 0.2 (AW) and 5 ± 1.0* (AR), the total staphylococcal count (TSC) was 8 ± 0.1 (AW) and 3 ± 0.5* (AR) while the total fungal count was 60 ± 0.4 (AW) and 42 ± 0.7 (AR), the variations in the results differ significantly at P < 0.05. The total microbial count of soil samples within the waste dumpsite showed that the TVC was 3.0 ± 1.7 × 10 8 cfu/g which was significantly different (P < 0.05) when compared with the control, 3.2 ± 0.8 × 10 6 cfu/g. The TCC was 1.6 ± 0.4 × 10 4 cfu/g and do not differ significantly (P > 0.05) with the control (1.0 ± 1.0 × 10 4 cfu/g), the TSC was 2.6 ± 0.7 × 10 2 cfu/g and do not differ significantly (P > 0.05) with the control (2.1 ± 0.1 × 10 2 cfu/g) while the total fungal counts (6.8 ± 0.3 × 10 7 cfu/g) showed a significant difference when compared with the control (5.3 ± 0.6 × 10 6 cfu/g). The total microbial count of dripping samples from the waste dumpsite of ABSUTH showed that the TVC, TCC, staphylococcal count and the fungal count were 6.9 ± 1.7 × 10 7 , 3.5 ± 1.0 × 10 3 , 1.8 ± 0.6 × 10 2 , and 7.4 ± 0.1 × 10 5 , respectively. The variations in microbial counts of the dripping hospital waste dumpsite samples differed significantly (P < 0.05) when compared with the controls which showed no growth. The most occurring microorganisms were Bacillus species, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus sp. and Aspergillus fumigatus. The susceptibility profile of bacterial isolates revealed that ciprofloxacin and augmentin produced the highest percentage inhibition of 33 to 100% against all the bacterial isolates except Actinomycetes isreali which was resistant. Most of the isolates had no plasmid except for Escherichia coli which produced equal size of 23 kb of plasmid. Conclusion/Recommendation: The high microbial load densities suggests that the hospital wastes in the environment pose a major health and environmental threat. This study therefore calls for a proper regulatory system on disposal of hospital waste.
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