Prevalencia de bacterias nosocomiales en las instalaciones de la clinica veterinaria de la Universidad Católica de Cuenca

Abstract

Nosocomial or intrahospital infections are those that occur in a patient during their hospital stay within a period of 48 to 72 hours. Currently, they pose a high risk in veterinary clinics as they affect both the patient and the professionals in the field, and even the animal's owner. Furthermore, these infections interfere with recovery, compromising the patient's health. The present research aimed to determine the prevalence of nosocomial bacteria on surfaces in the Operating Room and Consultation areas of the facilities of the veterinary clinic at the Catholic University of Cuenca, using Gram staining. The sample size was determined using the Epiinfo® program for infinite samples with a 90% confidence interval and a 5% margin of error, considering an expected frequency of 5% reported in the scientific literature (Gaudichon & Astagneau, 2022; Sfaciotte et al., 2021). The results of the prevalence of nosocomial bacteria concerning the study area (nCONSULTATION = 25; nOPERATING ROOM = 25) showed a positive contamination rate of 8% (n = 4) in the Operating Room and 2% (n = 1) in the consultation area. On the other hand, Staphylococcus epidermidis was present at 8% (n = 4) in the Operating Room and 2% (n = 1) in the consultation area. The presence of the bacterial species was observed by area and date, where 3 out of the five samples taken on Wednesdays were reported contaminated with S. epidermidis. Keywords: nosocomial bacteria, prevalence, consultation room, operating room.