Assessment of Bacteriological Quality of Indoor Environment of Selected Toilets from a Male Hostel, University of Benin, Nigeria

Abstract

Indoor air is a home to a plethora of bacterial isolates. Pollution of indoor environment is caused by lack of ventilation, chemicals, temperature and microbes. Unavoidable exposure to the indoor pollutant can cause diverse respiratory health challenges such as pneumonia, pulmonary tuberculosis, Whooping cough and measles. This study was aimed at assessing the bacteriological quality of the indoor environment of some selected male student's hostels toilets in University of Benin, Benin city. Settled plate method was used for the air sampling, at a sampling height of 1m above the floor level. Samples were collected in triplicates monthly between February, 2021 and May, 2021. Upon sampling, the samples were transported to the laboratory for immediate analysis using standard bacteriological methods. The bacterial isolates were subjected to antibiotic susceptibility test using standard discs and the multiple antibiotic index was determine in other to evaluate the public health importance. The concentration of bacterial aerosols in the indoor environment of the sampled hostel toilets ranged between 96.02± 71.00 cfu/m3 and 222.60± 187.33 cfu/m3. The highest airborne bacterial counts, 246.86± 67.44cfu/m3 was recorded in April and the least count, 76.62± 35.13cfu/m3 was recorded in March. Culturally and morphologically, eight (8) airborne bacterial isolates were isolated, they include Staphylococcus aereus, Serratia marcescens, Escherichia coli, shigella sonnei, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas alcaligenes, Proteus mirabilis and Enterococcus faecalis.