Saili Dixit Gadkari

HOW TO PREVENT CONTAMINATION ___ By Saili Dixit Gadkari Our world is made up of living and nonliving things. Living things vary greatly from plants, birds, animals, and insects to the smallest, many times notorious organisms, that are not visible to the naked eye - ‘Microorganisms’. Also referred to as microbes, these are microscopic and are ubiquitous in nature. Broadly classified into six major categories of bacteria, archaea, fungi, protozoa, algae, viruses, these are also beneficial to the environment, ecosystem and to humans. The benefits of microbes are infinite and few of these include, contributing humans and animals with a primary line of defense against pathogenic microbes, recycling compounds in nature, performing the fermentation process to generate useful products such as bread, wine, beer, yogurt, production of antibiotics, proteins, etc. However, these little creatures are not required to be present in certain environments like, the operation theatres of 2 hospitals, on medical devices used for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes, in sterile manufacturing of various products, in foodstuffs that we consume, in drinking water, in establishments taking care of people like nursing homes, and in research laboratories and institutions detecting, quantifying or analysing different kinds of microbes. When present in such areas, microbes contribute to contamination. Microbial contamination is the inadvertent, accidental, introduction of microbes or their byproducts like toxins and other metabolites. So how can we ensure that these universal beings are absent at our desired locations? Simply by taking measures to prevent contamination. But how exactly, do we prevent contamination? Similar to the first line of defense offered by microbes to compete with pathogens on our body, we too can prevent microbes from invading our environments of interest, by not allowing them to enter in the first place. This can be taken care of by wearing protective gears like aprons, lab coats, head caps, gloves, shoe covers or footwear designated to be worn in specific areas. Next steps would involve sanitizing the hands regularly before and after performing any activity that may expose us to microbial contaminants. Systematic deployment of sanitizer dispensing stations at regular intervals, can aid in the success of this practice. Washing the hands is complementary to this routine. In various fields of manufacturing of food, sterile and non-sterile pharmaceutical products, cosmetics, medical devices, textiles and so on, measures to control microbial contamination are implemented at various stages to ensure safety and optimum quality in the final products. Some of the measures that are in practice and which should be implemented by all those seeking to eliminate contamination include but are not limited to; ● Installation of a validated HVAC system with HEPA filters, regular monitoring of the same. In addition to this, in case of existing high microbial load, the HVAC 3 system should be kept on continuously or atleast run 1 hour prior to initiating lab activities. ● Monitoring of the pressure, temperature, relative humidity of the various areas like cleanrooms, media preparation rooms, documentation and washing rooms at set frequencies and taking appropriate actions in cases of non-compliance. These parameters are crucial deciders of the type and volume of the microbial load. All actions shall be documented for further reference. ● Effective mopping and cleaning of the room walls, doors, floors with approved, validated disinfectants that are changed on a weekly basis for better cleaning outcomes. ● Fogging the area by using a combination of silver nitrate and hydrogen peroxide is one of the most effective ways of eliminating contaminants. It works on the floor, walls and ceiling. ● Environmental monitoring of all the areas of a setup as per a predefined plan. Documenting the trend analysis, and maintaining a microbial library of the isolates for getting clarity on possible solutions to address the contamination. ● Along with the environment, personnel monitoring of the employees at set frequencies. Routine medical examination of the staff. Quarantining the ill staff for a specified period of time. ● Periodic training to be imparted to all the staff including labourers and factory workers to create awareness about best practices to avoid and tackle contamination. ● In order to avoid microbial contamination to colonize instruments and equipment, these are designed and manufactured in ways that do not let the microbes adhere and colonize their surfaces. 4 ● In the food industry, sterilized water is used at regular intervals and technologies such as microwave heating, pulsed electric field technology, high-pressure processing, and high light intensity are being used to preserve liquid foods. With more and more technological advances in detection methods such as rapid test kits, endotoxin detection, Celsis, it has now become convenient and easy to identify and prevent microbial contamination.