Conjunctival microbial flora of clinically normal persons who work in a hospital environment

Abstract

The objective of the work was to study the microbiota of the conjunctival secretion of health professionals. Samples were collected from the clinically normal eyes of 40 health professionals in four different sectors, Proctology, General Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Male Ward, and Oncology of Hospital das Clínicas Dr. Augusto Leite, Aracaju, SE, Brazil. Ten professionals from each sector were selected. The samples were inoculated into various culture media: blood agar, Chapman agar, EMB medium (Teague), and Sabouraud dextrose agar with chloramphenicol. The bacteria most frequently isolated from all the sectors were Staphylococcus epidermidis (45.0%) and Bacillus sp (29.0%). The least frequent bacteria were Proteus sp (6.1%), Staphylococcus aureus (4.1%), Enterobacter sp (4.1%), Alcaligenes sp (4.1%), Citrobacter sp (2.1%), Moraxella sp (2.1%), and Proteus mirabilis (2.1%). Fungi were not isolated. These results confirm the continuous contamination of the conjunctival sac of these professionals by the external environment, while at the same time confirming that the mechanisms of local defence continue to be intact, preventing the fixation of invading microorganisms.

Exposure of Hospital Staff to Infections: The Effect of the Hospital Environment on the Microbial Flora of the Conjunctiva

“…A similar study conducted in Brazil [19] reported changes in the microbial flora of the conjunctiva of health professionals compared to that reported in the literature. However, that study did not compare the incidence of bacteria to that of the general population in Brazil, but only to that reported in the literature.…”

“…Constant exposure to the hospital environment may lead to changes in the normal flora of the conjunctiva of health professionals through the recurrent contamination mechanism as described above. A study conducted among 40 health professionals in Brazil [19] found changes in the flora of the conjunctiva compared to the normal flora as described in the literature. These findings confirm continuous contamination, while indicating that the mechanism of local defense continues to be intact, preventing the fixation of invading organisms.…”

The eye of the Barbary sheep or aoudad (<i>Ammotragus lervia</i>): Reference values for selected ophthalmic diagnostic tests, morphologic and biometric observations

“…Enterobacter sp and Citrobacter sp were isolated from the conjunctiva of clinically normal eyes of horses and human beings working as health professionals in a hospital environment (Pisani et al, 1997;Trindade et al, 2000). Additional studies are still necessary to try to determine whether or not some of these gramnegative bacteria are normal inhabitants of the aoudad's ocular microbiota.…”

Reflexões sobre a ceratite fúngica por meio dos achados de exames histopatológicos

“…By studying the flora of the conjunctiva, the preventive and epidemiological aspects of the disease are highlighted, which is important now that the frequency of opportunistic infections is increasing. Due to this, the focus is more directed to bacteriology (5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12) , and the presence of saprophytic fungi in the conjunctiva is stressed (13)(14)(15)(16) . Some articles focus on fungal keratitis (17,18) .…”