Author(s)

Samy S. Ashgar, Hamdy M. El-Said

Medical Microbiology Department, College of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

Background: The hygiene of environmental surfaces from shopping, ATM machines, telephones and computers and miscellaneous sites play role in spreading fecal and total coliform bacteria as well as pathogenic bacteria. Objectives: This study addresses the contaminated common sites by pathogenic or potentially pathogenic bacteria in Mecca, SA. Materials and Methods: A total 648 swab samples were collected and analyzed for presence or absence of pathogenic bacteria. Results: Of the total samples 422 were negative bacterial count (71%) and 226 (29%) were positive. All collected samples (100%) of glass windows in the fish markets were bacterial counted; most dominated was Bacillus spp. (n = 97) and the highest population of species was Enterococcus faecalis (n = 40) and E. coli (n = 16). Conclusion: Some public sites were very contaminated with different types of fecal coliform group of bacteria such as shopping cart handles, inner surfaces and child seats in supermarkets, and the glass windows in the fish market. Acinetobacter haemolyticus and other hemolytic bacteria were isolated from more than site.

Keyboards; ATM; Pathogenic Bacteria; Mecca; Enterococcus faecalis

S. Ashgar and H. El-Said, "Pathogenic Bacteria Associated with Different Public Environmental Sites in Mecca City," Open Journal of Medical Microbiology, Vol. 2 No. 4, 2012, pp. 133-137. doi: 10.4236/ojmm.2012.24020.