ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF MICROORGANISMS ASSOCIATED WITH FAIRLY USED CLOTHES SOLD IN UMUAHIA METROPOLIS

ABSTRACT

Secondhand clothes have been used by people of different classes, social status and economic standings. Microorganisms associated with secondhand clothes were investigated.  Swab sticks soaked with peptone water were used to collect specimen from these secondhand clothes, especially children wears, undies and adults wears.  Samples were collected from fresh bails, in the morning and bails in the evening.  The swab sticks were inoculated using the streak technique method.  The results reveals that these second hand clothes can serve as pathogen city for microbes, as bacterial isolates of the number of samples analyzed reveal that bacteria isolated (Staphylococcus, Bacillus, Streptococcus) from Gate 6 has the highest load (5407.276, mean square, Ubani is 4029.265, and Ndoro is 2484.128) and the fungi (Penicillium, trichophyton rubrium, Candida albicans, Candida tropical, Rhodotoruls rubra) isolated in square mean are Gate 6, 215.622, Ubani 177.333 and Ndoro is 123.461.  The results give the impression that second hand clothes have the ability of being a pathogen reservoir.  Therefore, adequate and personal hygiene and proper washing of these clothes must be maintained by washing these secondhand clothes with detergents, bleach and other antiseptics before wearing them and also if possible, total avoidance of secondhand clothes.   

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Certification - - - - - - - - - i

Dedication - - - - - - - - - ii

Acknowledgement - - - - - - - - iii

Table of Contents - - - - - - - - iv

List of Tables - - - - - -- - - - vi

Abstract - - - - - - - - - vii

CHAPTER ONE  -   INTRODCUTION 1

1.1 Introduction - - - - - - - - 1

1.2 Aims and Objectives - - - - - - - - 2

CHAPTER TWO  -  LITERATURE REVIEW 3

2.1 Historical Review of Secondhand Clothing - - - - - 3

2.1.1 Secondhand Clothing in the Nineteenth Century - - - 4

2.1.2 Global Trade of Secondhand Clothing - - - - 4

2.1.3 Charity Organizations and Resale Retail Businesses - - - 5

2.1.4 Health Implications of Secondhand Clothing - - - 5

2.2 Health Care Workers and used Clothing - - - - 6

2.2.1 Barrier Properties of Protective Clothing   - - - - - 6

2.3 Decontamination Method used in Secondhand Clothings - - - 7

2.4 Public Health Concern of Secondhand Clothings - - - 8

2.5 Microoganisms Associated with Secondhand Clothings - - - 8

CHAPTER THREE -   MATERIALS AND METHODS MATERIALS 12

3.1 Materials - - - - - - - - - 12

3.2 Methods - - - - - - - - 12

3.2.1 Collection of Samples - - - - - - 12

3.3 Processing of Samples - - - - - - 13

3.4 Inoculation of Microorganisms - - - - - 13

3.5 Isolation of Microorganisms - - - - - - - 13

3.6 Characterization and Identification - - - - - 14

3.7 Characterization of Bacterial Isolates - - - - - 14

3.8 Identification of Fungal Isolates - - - - - 17

3.9 Statistical Analysis - - - - - - - 17

CHAPTER FOUR    -   RESULTS 18

CHAPTER FIVE  -   DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 27

5.1 Discussion - - - - - - - - 27

5.2 Summary - - - - - - - - 28

5.3 Conclusion - - - - - - - - 28

5.4 Recommendation - - - - - - - 29

REFERENCES - - - - - - - - 30

LIST OF TABLES

Table Title Page  

1: Morphological and biochemical characteristics of bacterial isolates 19

2:   Morphological characters of fungal isolates 20

3:   Bacterial load from 3 markets 21

4:   Fungal load from 3 markets 23

5:   Microbial load of isolates 25

6: Showing the significance of fungi and bacterial load between and

    within groups 26

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

The secondhand clothes or fairly used cloths popularly known as Okirika, (OK) are clothing items that have been previously used by somebody (Didymus, 2012). Categories of items that are found among second hand clothes popularly refer to as OK includes used panties, stocks, shirts, skirts and household linens such as pillow cases, towels, beddings, curtains, tables cloths etc. These cloths are imported mostly from the West and Asia (Adow, 2012, Ogekanne, 2012).

The customer base of second hand clothing market is usually extremely cost- conscious and often promotes the ideologies of sustainability and environmentalism. Second hand clothing, after all, is the recycling of used and/ or unwanted clothing, and this reciprocal buy/sell/ trade transaction between the customer and the retailer saves an incalculable amount of unwanted clothing from dumps and landfills. The United States of America (USA) is said to be the world largest exporter of second hand clothes followed by Germany, the United Kingdom (UK) and Netherland (Wallander, 2011). On a larger scale, textile recycling warehouses, who grade used or preowned clothes have become very prominent and influential in the second hand trade. These sorted garments are compressed into bales of 50kg and exported; unsorted second hand clothes can be compressed into bales of 500 to 1000kg. The better graded used clothing is exported to central American countries and the lower graded clothing is shipped to Africa and Asia (Wallander, 2011).

Second hand clothing items, due to antecedents and widespread used pose a major health risks to the public. Some countries, like Philippines and India ban the import of second hand cloths, in order to protect the local textile industry. Other countries like Pakistan, Uganda or South Africa, which have a flourishing textile industry, have no or limit restrictions. Due to some health implications, Rwanda Bureau standard ban second hand undergarment in Rwanda (Kamana, 2013) certain diseases that may be transmitted via contact such as Candidiasis, Hepatitis A, B, and C as well as skin infection such as Scabies, Ringworm could be transmitted through these popular clothing items (Sharifzada, 2011, NAN, 2012). Bloom field documented the ability of various types of clothing items to retain bacterial, fungi and viruses for varying lengths of time (Bloomfield et al., 2011).

Microorganisms in cloths are transmissible through sharing formites have been shown to aid in the transmission of pathogen from one individual to another. A common formites is the bedding, whereby commonly employed materials mostly cotton acts as vectors that carry pathogens far from the initial contact point with human skin, especially when there is presence of moisture from sweat, semen, saliva, vaginal secretions, secretions from wounds and open pimples and spilled drinks (Sekene, et al., 2008). It is quite clear that second hand clothing have the potency to retain and transmit microorganisms from the first person to the final user. Treating them with detergents and antiseptic has been shown to be an effective means of considerable disinfecting method, the effectiveness of the disinfection process is however dependent in a few variables (Muthaini et al, 2010).

1.2 Aims and Objectives

The main objective of this study was  

§ To isolate and characterize microorganisms that may be found on second hand cloths sold in several parts of Umuahia  metropolis

§  To compare the microbial load of different types of second hand cloths, and

§ To determine the pathogenicity of the microbes.

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