Assessment of the microbial contamination intensity of the bureau of forensic medical expertise production environment objects
Relevance. Employees of the forensic medical examination bureau, primarily those working in the sectional rooms, have a high risk of contracting tuberculosis, given that the process of examining a corpse is a risk factor for contamination of the working environment objects with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Those employees who have a high degree of contact with cadaveric material are suffering a change in immunoreactivity, which increases the risk of infection. This is due to the influence of antigenic pressure caused by intense microbial contamination. Mycobacterium tuberculosis released during the autopsy settles on the working environment objects and, if disinfection is of poor-quality or ineffective, can spread from the sectional rooms to other divisions of the forensic medical examination bureau. Purpose - to assess the intensity of microbial contamination of the forensic medical examination bureau production environment objects. Materials and methods. In the work, the protocols of bacteriological and molecular genetic studies of rinses taken during the working process as part of production control from various production environment objects, hands and gowns of the forensic medical examination bureau employees, were used. Methods of epidemiological research were applied as follows: analytical and descriptive-evaluative method using the method of statistical observation and calculation of correlation links, mean values of the time series, the significance of the difference between the compared indicators was evaluated. Results. During the period from 2015 to 2019 in the Tyumen regional bureau of forensic medical examination 1479 rinses were selected for microbiological studies, of which 441 were taken from hands, gowns and footwear of employees. The frequency of bacterial growth occurrence was 63.6%. The proportion of rinses in which the DNA of mycobacterium tuberculosis was detected, was 5.5%. Considering the degree of employees contact with biological material, two groups were studied. The first group included department of corpses forensic medical examination employees, the second group included laboratory units, department of forensic medical examination of living persons and administrative unit employees. An assessment of microbial contamination, including mycobacterium tuberculosis, of certain working environment objects, as well as of the hands, gowns and footwear of employees, was carried out. Departments and production environment objects with the highest level of microbial contamination are shown. Conclusion. Microbial contamination monitoring of working environment objects and forensic experts hands, gowns and footwear is an effective component of the epidemiological safety system, inasmuch as it allows to identify objects with a high degree of microorganisms contamination, including mycobacterium tuberculosis, as well as assessing the quality of disinfection measures taken.