Comparison of Hand Flora of Persons Coming to Hospital for Sick Call Before and After Visits

In our study, whether the microorganisms are transported from outside to hospital or from hospital to outside by hands was investigated. For this purpose, swab samples were taken from hands of visitors before and after visits, and then their culture results were compared. During the sampling, some information was also taken about hand washing behaviour. A population of 9.2% of women and 7.7% of men responded that they do not wash their hands regularly during daily activities. Besides, normal bacterial flora, some pathogenic microorganisms such as Escherichia vulneris, Enterobacter spp, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Citrobacter freundii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter spp, MSSA, Candida spp., Escherichia coli, MRCNS and Enterococcus spp. were also isolated from the cultures taken before and after visits of 126 and of 130 persons, respectively. Most of these microorganisms were isolated from the same number of visitors before and after visits. Escherichia coli, Enterococcus spp. and MRCNS were isolated from different number of visitors before and after visits. As the isolated microorganisms are common agents in nosocomial infections, it becomes clear that patient visits should be controlled by some rules.