DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2015.v03i09.011

Pages: 3185-3191

Laboratory staffs become prone to infection when they are exposed to infectious biological agents in the laboratory. The mode of transmission of any pathogen like mycobacterium in the laboratory can be secondary besides primary infection. In our country, particularly in West Bengal the systematic study about safe disposal of laboratory wastes and measures taken for prevention of laboratory acquired microbiologic infection to working staff in government and private run laboratories is scanty. A cross sectional study was conducted to explore the risks of laboratory waste related environmental contamination after getting ethical clearance certificates. Five disposed sputum (remain untreated and kept for disposal) samples were collected randomly from each of the 21 laboratories selected arbitrarily of ‘Hooghly’ district and 20 laboratories of ‘Burdwan’ district (both government and private laboratories) situated within five kilometer radius surrounding the district/sub-divisional/rural hospitals with prior consent of the laboratory authorities. Study included microbiological examination of sputum for microscopy for AFB by Ziehl Neelsen staining and for culture of AFB using LJ media. The Z.N. smear test positivity for 24% cases and AFB culture test positivity for 24% revealed the existence of acid fast bacilli in laboratory waste samples out of 25 samples from government laboratories, whereas out of total 80 samples, collected from private laboratories, 8.75% samples were found positive for Z.N. smear test and 7.5% samples were found positive for AFB culture for ‘Hooghly’ district.