The NICU flora: An effective technique to sample surfaces.

<h4>Objective</h4>Environmental surface sampling in healthcare settings is not routinely recommended. There are several methods for environmental surface sampling, however the yield of these methods is not well defined. The aim of the present study is to compare two methods of environmen...

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Autores principales:	Naomi Sultan, Irina Shchors, Marc V Assous, Maskit Bar-Meir
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/990c06fabeab4c7cb4f49839564d5ea4
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:990c06fabeab4c7cb4f49839564d5ea42021-12-02T20:14:14ZThe NICU flora: An effective technique to sample surfaces.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0257821https://doaj.org/article/990c06fabeab4c7cb4f49839564d5ea42021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257821https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203<h4>Objective</h4>Environmental surface sampling in healthcare settings is not routinely recommended. There are several methods for environmental surface sampling, however the yield of these methods is not well defined. The aim of the present study is to compare two methods of environmental surface sampling, to characterize the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) flora, compare it with rates of infection and colonization and correlate it with the workload.<h4>Design and setting</h4>First, the yield of the swab and the gauze-pad methods were compared. Then, longitudinal surveillance of environmental surface sampling was performed over 6 months,once weekly, from pre-specified locations in the NICU. Samples were streaked onto selective media and bacterial colonies were identified using matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF).<h4>Results</h4>The number of colonies isolated using the gauze pad method was significantly higher compared with the swab method. Overall, 87 bacterial species of 30 different bacterial genera were identified on the NICU environmental surfaces. Of these, 18% species were potential pathogens, and the other represent skin and environmental flora. In 20% of clinical cultures and in 60% of colonization cultures, the pathogen was isolated from the infant's environment as well. The number of bacteria in environmental cultures was negatively correlated with nurse/patient ratio in the day prior to the culture.<h4>Conclusion</h4>The gauze pad method for environmental sampling is robust and readily available. The NICU flora is very diverse and is closely related with the infants' flora, therefore it may serve as a reservoir for potential pathogens.Naomi SultanIrina ShchorsMarc V AssousMaskit Bar-MeirPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 9, p e0257821 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Naomi Sultan Irina Shchors Marc V Assous Maskit Bar-Meir The NICU flora: An effective technique to sample surfaces.
description	<h4>Objective</h4>Environmental surface sampling in healthcare settings is not routinely recommended. There are several methods for environmental surface sampling, however the yield of these methods is not well defined. The aim of the present study is to compare two methods of environmental surface sampling, to characterize the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) flora, compare it with rates of infection and colonization and correlate it with the workload.<h4>Design and setting</h4>First, the yield of the swab and the gauze-pad methods were compared. Then, longitudinal surveillance of environmental surface sampling was performed over 6 months,once weekly, from pre-specified locations in the NICU. Samples were streaked onto selective media and bacterial colonies were identified using matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF).<h4>Results</h4>The number of colonies isolated using the gauze pad method was significantly higher compared with the swab method. Overall, 87 bacterial species of 30 different bacterial genera were identified on the NICU environmental surfaces. Of these, 18% species were potential pathogens, and the other represent skin and environmental flora. In 20% of clinical cultures and in 60% of colonization cultures, the pathogen was isolated from the infant's environment as well. The number of bacteria in environmental cultures was negatively correlated with nurse/patient ratio in the day prior to the culture.<h4>Conclusion</h4>The gauze pad method for environmental sampling is robust and readily available. The NICU flora is very diverse and is closely related with the infants' flora, therefore it may serve as a reservoir for potential pathogens.
format	article
author	Naomi Sultan Irina Shchors Marc V Assous Maskit Bar-Meir
author_facet	Naomi Sultan Irina Shchors Marc V Assous Maskit Bar-Meir
author_sort	Naomi Sultan
title	The NICU flora: An effective technique to sample surfaces.
title_short	The NICU flora: An effective technique to sample surfaces.
title_full	The NICU flora: An effective technique to sample surfaces.
title_fullStr	The NICU flora: An effective technique to sample surfaces.
title_full_unstemmed	The NICU flora: An effective technique to sample surfaces.
title_sort	nicu flora: an effective technique to sample surfaces.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/990c06fabeab4c7cb4f49839564d5ea4
work_keys_str_mv	AT naomisultan thenicufloraaneffectivetechniquetosamplesurfaces AT irinashchors thenicufloraaneffectivetechniquetosamplesurfaces AT marcvassous thenicufloraaneffectivetechniquetosamplesurfaces AT maskitbarmeir thenicufloraaneffectivetechniquetosamplesurfaces AT naomisultan nicufloraaneffectivetechniquetosamplesurfaces AT irinashchors nicufloraaneffectivetechniquetosamplesurfaces AT marcvassous nicufloraaneffectivetechniquetosamplesurfaces AT maskitbarmeir nicufloraaneffectivetechniquetosamplesurfaces
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The NICU flora: An effective technique to sample surfaces.

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