Microbial Contents and Antibiotics Susceptibilities from Hand Washing Stations during COVID-19 Pandemic in Lagos, Nigeria

The COVID-19 pandemic put every government in the globe on red alert; safety protocol and long-standing infection prevention and control (IPC) measures such as hand and oral hygiene, social/ physical distancing, use of face mask were rigorously enforced. This study evaluated microbial (bacterial, fungal) contents of rinsate, bowl water, water from tap, and the neighborhood drainage in selected hand washing stations in Agege, Alimosho, Mainland, Island and Shomolu local government areas (LGAs) in Lagos, Nigeria. The identities of bacterial isolates were confirmed with 16S rRNA sequencing while the fungi were identified by colonial appearances. The antibiotics susceptibility testing (AST) of the bacteria against structurally unrelated antibiotics was performed and interpreted according to standard guidelines. Sixty-seven (67) bacterial and fifty-one (51) fungal isolates were recovered from mainly water bucket with tap and rinsates across all the LGAs. There were marked microbial loads (some too numerous to count at 10-3 dilution) across Alimosho, Lagos Island and Mainland. Forty (40) representative bacterial isolates were selected for 16S rRNA sequencing. The occurrence of microbial isolates in the samples was at varying degrees; Klebsiella spp. (37.5%), Bacillus spp. (32.5%), Enterobacter spp. (17.5%), were the predominant bacteria while Aspergillus spp. (46.2%), yeasts (34.6%), Sporothrix schenckii (11.5%) and Penicillium spp. (7.7%) constituted the fungal isolates. The biological weapon, B. anthracis was recovered from a water bucket with tap in Alimosho. The antibiotics susceptibility testing of the bacteria showed high degrees of resistance profile; 45 (69.2%) to ampicillin, 41.5% amoxicillin/clavulanate while 47.6% were resistant to two (2) or more antibiotics. This study demonstrated high microbial load during the pandemic at the study LGAs, presence of environmental commensals reputed for debilitating opportunistic infections in man and risk of passing heavy load of these potential pathogens to the public.