Isolation of pathogens from Hospital laundry water

Water samples were collected from the two laundry sites; i.e. pretreated and untreated hospital clothes washing centres. Microorganisms from these water samples were isolated, identified and tested for antibiotic sensitivity against Ampicillin, Tetracycline, Streptomycin, Gentamycin, Ciprofloxacin, Colistin, Co-Trimoxazole and Nitrofurantoin. Hospital clothes had heavy load of pathogenic microorganisms such as Bacillus sp., Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus. Majority of the isolates were found to be resistant to most of the antibiotics many β-lactams, Nitrofurantoin and tetracyclines, However, the water samples of pre-treated hospital clothes resulted in a low count of microbial load, as well as they showed sensitivity towards chemotherapeutic drugs.