Bacterial Contamination of Medicated Glasses amongst Staff and Students of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike, Nigeria

Abstract

Bacterial contamination of medicated eye glasses worn by members of the University community (Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike) Abia State, Nigeria was investigated. Of the one hundred and six samples screened [Handles (n=53), Lenses (n=53)] during the period of the research, ninety-nine (93.40%) were contaminated with bacteria. Escherichia coli(51.89%) was the most prevalent, followed by Staphylococcus aureus (28.30%) and Streptococcus species (16.98%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (13.21%) and Bacillus species (13.21%) were equivalent, and Coagulase negative Staphylococcus (9.43%),while Klebsiella species(1.89%) were the least. Sex significantly affected the level of eye glass contamination in the sense that, eye glasses used by male were more contaminated (52.83%) than their female counterparts (26.42%). Workers had more contaminated eye glasses (47.17%) than students (32.08%). Handles were more contaminated (94.34%) than the lenses (92.45%) and this could be due to frequent contact of the handles with human hands, which are mostly contaminated and non-sanitized. The eye glass cleaners or disinfectants were not able to inhibit bacteria isolated from the eye glasses while antibiotics where able to inhibit the various bacteria isolated from the glasses.