Title
Assessment of bio-contaminants during COVID-19 outbreak from the indoor environment of Hail city, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Authors
Mohammed Kuddus1, Fahmida Khatoon1, Mohd Saleem2, Sadaf Anwar1, Syed Monowar Alam Shahid1, Tarig Ginawi1, Ashfaque Hossain3, Akram Abdullah Malaqi Alnabri4, Ziyad Fayez Alshammari4, Abdulaziz Mohammed Alrabie4, Sami Shayih Jehad Alenazi4, Motaz Monif F Alshammari4, Mohd Adnan Kausar1*
Affiliation
1Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, University of Hail, Hail, KSA; 2Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, University of Hail, Hail, KSA; 3Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, RAK Medical and Health Sciences University, UAE; 4College of Medicine, University of Hail, Hail, KSA;
*Correspondence: adnankausar1@gmail.com, ma.kausar@uoh.edu.sa
Article Type
Research Article
Date
Received April 28, 2021; Revised May 23, 2021; Accepted May 23, 2021, Published May 31, 2021
Abstract
Biocontaminants are minute particles derived from different
biological materials. Indoor biocontaminants are associated with
major public health problems. In Gulf countries, it is more
precarious due to the harsh climatic conditions, including high
ambient temperatures and
relative humidity. In addition, due to COVID-19 pandemic, most of
the time public is inside their home. Therefore, the aim of the
study was to determine the load of biocontaminants in the indoor
environment of Hail city. The results showed that most of the
bacteria are
gram-positive and higher in polymicrobial (87.1%) than monomicrobial
(62.7%) association. There was no significant association with
sample collection time and types of isolates. The most abundant
microbes found in all samples were Staphylococcus aureus followed by
Bacillus spp. Among Gram-negative bacterial isolates, E. coli was
most common in tested indoor air samples. The study will be useful
to find the biocontaminants associated with risk factors and their
impact on human health in the indoor environment, especially during
the
COVID-19 pandemic. These results indicate the need to implement
health care awareness programs in the region to improve indoor air
quality.
Keywords
Biocontaminants, Bioaerosols, Indoor environment, Air quality, COVID-19
Citation
Kuddus et al. Bioinformation 17(5): 541-549 (2021)
Edited by
P Kangueane
ISSN
0973-2063
Publisher
License
This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.
