ABSTRACT
The aim of this study is to determine the indoor air bacterial and fungal density in the day care centres of ikwuano Local Government Abia State, Five day care centres were sampled using the settle plate method. Five bacteria and fungi was isolated. The bacterial isolates are Bacillus spp., Escherichia coli, Streptococcus spp., Staphylococcus spp. and klebsiella species. Bacillus specie,while the fungal isolates are Aspergillus niger, Klebsiella and Mucor Alternaria. The bacterial percentage occurrence are Staphylococcus aureus (18.2%), Bacillus specie (27.2%), Escherichia coli (18.2%), Klebsiella spp. (18.2%), Streptococcus spp. (18.2%). The Bacillus specie has highest percentage of occurrence (27.2 %). From the statistical analysis, there is no significant difference in the microbial sample of the indoor air P< 0.015. The outcome of this study shows that the most prevalent bacteria found indoors were Gram-positive. It can be inferred that all the day care centres examined for indoor air microbiological quality were contaminated with bacteria aerosols than with fungal aerosols. The number of persons, the environmental factors and the ventilation systems are believed to be among the factors that affected the indoor airborne microbial rates. These findings may contribute to the promotion and implementation of preventive measures and the formulation of recommendations aimed at providing healthier school environments
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
Title
page i
Certification iii
Dedication
iv
Acknowledgements v
Table
of Contents vi
List
of Tables vii
Abstract viii
CHAPTER
ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Aim and
Objectives 3
CHAPTER
TWO
2.0 LITERATURE
OF REVIEW
2.1 Environmental
Factors 5
2.2.1 Ventilation 6
2.2.2 Ventilation
Mode 6
2.2.3 Moisture
and Microbial Growth on Building Materials 7
2.2.4 Microbes
in the Indoor Air of Moisture-Damaged Building 9
2.2.5 Occupant
Density/Ventilation Rate 10
2.2.6 Water Vapour 10
2.3 Sources
of Microorganism in Indoor Environment 11
2.3.1 Outdoor Air 12
2.3.2 Humans as
Sources of Indoor Microorganism 12
2.3.3 Plants 13
2.3.4 Heating 14
2.3.5 On-site
Inspection 14
2.3.6 Allergens
in Educational Facility 15
CHAPTER
THREE
3.0 MATERIALS
AND METHOD
3.1 Sampling
Sites 16
3.2 Collection
of Sample 16
3.3 Method 16
3.4 Laboratory
Analysis 17
3.5 Sterilization
Practices 17
3.6 Media Used 18
3.7 Enumeration
of Microorganism 18
3.8 Characterization
and Identification of Isolates 18
3.8.1 Lactophenol
Cotton Blue Stain 18
3.8.2 Gram Staining 18
3.8.3 Biochemical
Test 19
3.8.4 Catalase
Test 19
3.8.5 Coagulase
Test 19
3.8.6 Oxidase
Test 20
3.8.7 Citrate
Test 20
3.8.8 Indole Test 20
CHAPTER
FOUR
4.0 RESULTS 21
CHAPTER
FIVE
5.0 DISCUSSION,
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 30
5.1 Discussion 30
5.2 Conclusion 32
5.3 Recommendation 32
Appendix I
Appendix II
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE
TITLE NUMBER
Table 4.1: The Average microbial count of indoor air
in day care centre in 24
Ikwuano L.G.A
Table 4.2a: Identification
and characteristics of Bacterial Isolates 25
Table 4.2b: Identification
and characteristics of fungal Isolates 26
Table 4.3a: Distribution
of bacterial isolates from indoor air in day care centre 27
Table 4.3b: Distribution
of fungal isolates from indoor air in day care centre 28
Table 4.4a: Percentage
occurrence of bacterial isolates of indoor air in day care centre 27
Table 4.4b: Percentage
occurrence of fungal isolates of indoor air in day care centre 27
` CHAPTER ONE
1.1 INTRODUCTION
Indoor air quality (IAQ) is a measure of
the how clean the air is inside the buildings where we live, work and play.
Indoor air is an increasingly important issue for occupational and public health,
because people spend more than 90% of the day in indoor environments. One group
of particular concern are children. They are more vulnerable to environmental
pollutants compared to adults since they breathe more air relative to their
body weight and they also have a lower ability to deal with the toxic chemicals
due to their undeveloped airways (Aydogdu
et al., 2009). Indoor air
quality (IAQ) is vital to human health because most human activities take place
in the indoor environment, classrooms, offices, factories including rooms where
children are kept in day care centres. The quality of air inside enclosed
spaces like the day care rooms where children spend a time period of nearly 7
hours daily has become a matter of growing concern today (Naga et al., 2014).
Indoor
air contains a complex mixture of microorganisms, microorganism fragments, and
by products such as moulds, bacteria, endotoxins, mycotoxins, and volatile
microbial organic compounds. Exposure to these microbial fragments and
metabolites may result in adverse health effects in children between 1 to 6
years. Airborne bacteria can be toxic, allergenic or infectious. Elevated
concentrations of bacteria are associated with an increasing probability of
epidemics and food pollution and may be responsible for a number of respiratory
and dermatological infections and diseases. Additionally, in most studies,
symptoms such as dizziness, headache, nausea, and irritation of eyes, nose, and
throat have been shown to be connected with poor indoor air quality (Aydogdu et al., 2009). The presence of microbes in air indoors is a problem
from the view of health protection; the day care room environment represents a
congenial situation where microorganisms and susceptible pupils with their
teachers are together indoors. The enclosed atmosphere of a building and its
human occupants constitute an ecological unit, no doubt, the air within the day
care rooms may serve as a reservoir for microorganisms thereby contributing to
the rate of infection among children who are more susceptible to indoor air
pollutants than adults as they are exposed to unidentified amount of indoor air
pollutants in school environments (Karwowska et al., 2003) microorganisms such as bacterial and fungal spores
are major indoor biological air pollutants, accounting for 5-34% of indoor air
pollution and are almost always present in all indoor locations due to their
ubiquity in the environment and in human beings, hence the quality of air
inside learning facilities where numerous school aged children and their
teachers spend a large part of their life is therefore, an essential
determinant of their health, well-being and life expectancy (Soto et al., 2009).
Day-care
centres are institution that
provides supervision and care of infants and young children during the daytime,
particularly so that their parents can hold jobs, examples are Divine
vessels of mercy Academy Nursery and Primary School, E2 Genius
Academy located in Ikwuano Local Government Area, Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria. In the United States, the terms day nursery, day or
child-care centre, and nursery school are often used interchangeably to
identify various types of day care for children. In many countries, day-care
facilities are associated with the mother’s place of work. Infant care programs
are a normal provision in many developed countries, and in some countries, such
as France and Italy, they are included in the regular public-school system.
However, the United States has developed no societal consensus about the
appropriateness of day care, and the resulting unevenness of standards of care
is cause for concern. Both the importance and the availability of day care
increased in the 20th century owing to the rising proportion of women in the
workforce (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2018).
According to American
Academy of Paediatrics (2011) Child care, or otherwise known
as day care, is the care
and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time. The age ranges
anywhere from six weeks up to age thirteen. Child care is the action or skill
of looking after children by a day-care centre, nannies, babysitter, teachers
or other providers. Child care is a broad topic that covers a wide spectrum of
professionals, institutions, contexts, activities, social and cultural
conventions.
The number of microorganisms present in
day care room will depend on the number of children occupying the day care room,
the amount of physical activity, the rate of air exchange, the ambient
temperature, relative humidity, level of environmental sanitation, type of
ventilation, number of windows available for cross ventilation amongst others. Maintaining
a healthy environment and, therefore, reducing disease transmission risk should
inarguably be one of the key agendas in day care operation. It is important to
understand the microbial community within public areas and, in particular,
within day care buildings as poor health in children impacts on wider society.
Against this back-drop, the evaluation of indoor microbial load is necessary,
and it is especially important in such areas like day care settings.
1.1 AIM AND OBJECTIVES
The
main aim of this study is to analyse the microbial load of indoor air in day
care centres in Ikwuano Local Government area, while the specific objectives
are;
i.
To investigate the extent of indoor air
microbial contamination in the selected day care centres
ii.
To identify and characterize microorganisms
present in the indoor air taken from the selected day care centres
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