MICROBIAL LOAD AND EVALUATION OF INDOOR AIR IN DAY CARE CENTRES IN IKWUANO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, ABIA STATE

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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