A study of the presence of bacteria on the surfaces of toilets lock handles and offices lock handles was in a University in Nigeria suggest that they may serve as a vector for transmission of pathogenic bacteria.
Toilets lock handless and offices lock handles (40 and 64 respectively) were examined the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, Nigeria. The percentage occurrences of isolated bacteria from toilets lock handle were: Staphylococcus aureus 41.1%, Enterococcus faecalis 11.7%, Proteus 11.7%, Salmonella spp. 5.8%; Escherichia coli 11.7%, Coagulase negative, Staphylococci 11.7% and Pseudomonas aeruginosa 5.8% respectively; whereas the percentage occurrences from offices lock handles were: Staphylococcus aureus 25.0%.,Enterococcus feacalis 25.0%., Proteus 10.0%., Salmonella 15.0%., E. coli 10.0%., Coagulase negative Staphylococci 15.0% and Pseudomonas spp. 0.0%. The overall percentage occurrences of isolated bacteria were: Staphylococcus aureus 32.4%., Enterococcus faecalis 18.9%., Proteus 10.8%., Salmonella 10.8%., E. coli 13.5%.,Coagulase negative Staphylococci 13.5% and Pseudomonas 2.7%. Statistical analysis at P<0.05 did not show significant difference between the bacteria carriage of toilets and offices lock handles. The presence of enteric pathogen on the toilets and offices lock handles suggest that they serve as medium for the possible transmission of pathogenic bacteria.
The paper can be found at: Amala, Smart Enoch, Ade, Adom Jacob International Journal of Epidemiology & Infection DOI: 10.12966/ijei.02.02.2015 IJEI 2015, 3(1):12-15
