การตรวจวัดสภาพแวดล้อมและการสำรวจชนิดและปริมาณของจุลินทรีย์ในอากาศของห้องปฎิบัติการวิทยาศาสตร์การแพทย์

Abstract

The aims of this research were to measure the environmental conditions, and to survey the type and amount of microorganisms in the medical science laboratories of Faculty of Medicine, Thammasat University. The experiment was done by measuring the temperature, relative humidity and air exchange rate for an hour before microbial air sampling. The air sample was collected by using settle plate method in the morning and afternoon. This results showed that anatomical laboratory had highest temperature, relative humidity and highest the average amount of microorganism in the both times. Comparison with the index of microbial air contamination (IMA), it was found that the average amounts of fungi were higher than an acceptable range. However, they were significantly reduced after cleaning the laboratory room (p<0.05). Moreover, the results of microbial identification and analysis showed that the main bacteria were Staphylococcus sp., followed by Bacillus sp. whereas the predominant fungi were Aspergillus sp., followed by Penicilium sp. These microorganisms are generally found in environment and reside as the normal flora on human skin, animals or objects with no harm to human. However, it can cause allergy or negative outcome on some patients with respiratory diseases. In summary, the quantity of microorganisms in the air in the laboratory room depends on several factors such as temperature, relative humidity, air exchange rate and laboratory cleanliness.