Authors of the study investigated the presence of beta-lactam–resistant bacteria in hospital air by collecting 64 air samples in four hospital wards. They screened for the presence of five common beta-lactamase–encoding genes. They found:
1. The prevalence of beta-lactam–resistant bacteria ranged in the hospital wards from 3 percent to 34 percent.
2. The bacteria with the highest prevalence were oxacillin-resistant bacteria, followed by ceftazidime- and cefazolin-resistant bacteria.
3. The most predominant beta-lactam–resistant bacteria were Acinetobacter spp, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Staphylococcus spp.
“The results revealed that hospital air is a potential route of transmission of [beta-lactam–resistant bacteria], such as Acinetobacter and Staphylococcus, two important causative agents of nosocomial infections,” concluded the study authors. “Therefore, improvement of control measures against the spreading of airborne bacteria in hospital environments is warranted.”
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