تاريخ مجلس الدراسات العليا

2023-06-04

اسم الطالب

راما خالد محمود الصرايرة

ملخص الرسالة

In December 2019, coronavirus disease (COVID-19), was transmitted rapidly from one person to another and has been spreading Worldwide. Wearing face masks plays a vital role in protecting community individuals from the spread of droplets carrying infectious agents. The present study is to investigate the bioburden and types of bacterial species contaminating surgical and cotton face masks worn by the Jordan population during Covid-19. Fifty surgical and five cotton masks were collected randomly giving up to one hundred and ten swab samples by swabbing the entire inner and outer layers of each mask. Additionally, noses and cheeks of ten participants were swabbed before and after taking off surgical face masks used for 7hrs (making up to 20 samples). Morphological and biochemical testing was used to identify the characteristics of colonies grown onto various types of selective and differential media after culturing swab samples. Identification was confirmed by utilizing four different sets of analytical profile index identification kits. A significant correlation between the duration of wearing facemasks and the level of bacterial contamination probability value (p=0.01) was demonstrated. Regarding surgical masks, frequency of recovered Gram-positive bacteria (55.2%) was higher than that of Gram-negative bacteria (44.8%) while for cotton masks, frequency of Gram-positive bacteria (75%) was threefold higher than that of Gram-negative bacteria (25%). From nares, Gram-positive bacteria was higher than that of Gram-negative bacteria before wearing masks, though the opposite was recorded after taking off masks. Serratia spp. was the most predominant bacteria in both outer and inner layers of surgical face masks, the second large group was Pantoea agglomerans and the third group was Pseudomonas spp. All cotton face masks (100%) harbored Pantoea agglomerans which also represents the largest recovered group on cheeks before and after taking off surgical face masks. Regarding Gram-positive bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus was the most predominant bacteria, in the inner layers of surgical and cotton face masks followed by Bacillius subtilis and Bacillius cereus. Multiple drug resistance was detected in S.aureus it was resistant to five antibiotics. wearing surgical mask for more than 4 hrs increases bacterial contamination and the number of bacterial counted on the outer layers is higher than those found in the inner layers. wearing the masks for 7 hrs has led to a shift in bacterial population from Gram-positive bacteria the normal flora inhibiting nares and cheeks to Gram-negative bacteria.