title: Occurrence of airborne vancomycin- and gentamicin-resistant bacteria in various hospital wards in Isfahan, Iran.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Airborne transmission of pathogenic resistant bacteria is well recognized as an important route for the acquisition of a wide range of nosocomial infections in hospitals. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of airborne vancomycin and gentamicin (VM and GM) resistant bacteria in different wards of four educational hospitals.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 64 air samples were collected from operating theater (OT), Intensive Care Unit (ICU), surgery ward, and internal medicine ward of four educational hospitals in Isfahan, Iran. Airborne culturable bacteria were collected using all glass impingers. Samples were analyzed for the detection of VM- and GM-resistant bacteria.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average level of bacteria ranged from 99 to 1079 CFU/m(3). The highest level of airborne bacteria was observed in hospital 4 (628 CFU/m(3)) and the highest average concentration of GM- and VM-resistant airborne bacteria were found in hospital 3 (22 CFU/m(3)). The mean concentration of airborne bacteria was the lowest in OT wards and GM- and VM-resistant airborne bacteria were not detected in this ward of hospitals. The highest prevalence of antibiotic-resistant airborne bacteria was observed in ICU ward. There was a statistically significant difference for the prevalence of VM-resistant bacteria between hospital wards (P = 0.012).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our finding showed that the relatively high prevalence of VM- and GM-resistant airborne bacteria in ICUs could be a great concern from the point of view of patients' health. These results confirm the necessity of application of effective control measures which significantly decrease the exposure of high-risk patients to potentially airborne nosocomial infections.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Hamed
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Mirhoseini
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahnaz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nikaeen
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Khanahmad
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics and Epidemiology, School of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Akbar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hassanzadeh
keywords: Airborne transmission; gentamicin-resistant bacteria; nosocomial infection; vancomycin-resistant