Award Date

5-2009

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Public Health (MPH)

Department

Environmental and Occupational Health

First Committee Member

Linda Stetzenbach, Chair

Second Committee Member

Shawn Gerstenberger

Third Committee Member

Michelle Chino

Graduate Faculty Representative

Sally Miller

Number of Pages

61

Abstract

The spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria is a major public health concern, as they result in greater healthcare costs and increased morbidity and mortality rates. Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one organism of particular concern, with the number of infections increasing in epidemic proportion. Bacterial surface contamination with MRSA is significant, as it may serve as a reservoir for transmission and have negative health implications. The purpose of this study was to evaluate survival of MRSA on five environmental surface materials; glass, wood, vinyl, plastic, and cloth. The effect of relative humidity (RH) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were also examined. Surfaces of 5.1cm 2 were inoculated with 3.0 x 10 8 - 1.4 x 10 9 MRSA CFU/ml with and without 1% BSA. Surfaces were incubated at 35°C at 45-55% and 16% RH. Hard surfaces were swab sampled and cloth surfaces hand stomached and re-suspended in phosphate buffer (PB). Suspensions of 100µl were spread plated onto agar plates and incubated at 35°C for 24 hrs; resulting colonies were enumerated. Samples were taken immediately upon drying (time 0), 3 hrs, 24 hrs, 2 days, 3 days, 4 days, and 5 days. Results showed that there was a significant difference (p

Keywords

Drug resistance in microorganisms; Humidity - Physiological effect; Methicillin resistance; Microbial contamination; Staphylococcus aureus

Disciplines

Bacteriology | Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology | Medical Microbiology | Microbial Physiology | Occupational Health and Industrial Hygiene | Pathogenic Microbiology | Public Health

File Format

pdf

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Comments

Best copy available

Signatures have been redacted for privacy and security measures.

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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