Risk Factors and Microbiological Control of Soils, Surfaces and Medical-technical Equipment at the Abomey-Calavi / So-Ava University Hospital Center, Benin

Aims: The aim of our work was, on the one hand, to evaluate the risk factors for infectious contamination in hospital environments and, on the other hand, to carry out a microbiological control of surfaces at the Abomey-Calavi / So-Ava hospital in Benin.

Methodology: The risk factors were evaluated using structured interviews based on the questionnaire. Fifty-five health care workers were surveyed and the questionnaire focused on: i) knowledge of care-associated infections and risk factors, ii) services most affected by care-associated infections and iii) origin of care-associated infections. For the microbial quality control of medical surfaces and materials, samples were collected by the dry swab method and the microbial isolation was carried out on Chapman and EMB agar plates. The biochemical analyses were carried out for the confirmations.

Results: Out of 55 respondents, the 93% think that bacterial germs are often involved in care-associated infections. In addition, 80% of respondents believe that the healthcare environment may be the source of care-associated infections. Regarding the microbiological quality of the surfaces, out of 96 samples collected, 77% were contaminated with Staphylococcus spp and 30% with Enterobacteria. Concerning units’ contamination, the highest prevalence was observed in paediatrics with 92% of samples contaminated with Staphylococcus spp followed by the operating theatre (87%).

Conclusion: It is clear from our work that hygiene managers must carry out preventive and corrective actions for the respect of the principles of hygiene. It would also be important to conduct regular microbiological monitoring of surfaces to identify any contamination.