Abstract

Since the wide spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome of coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) disease in 2003, the use of face masks has become omnipresent all over the world. Nose masks are believed to contribute to an adequate protection against respiratory infections spread through micro-droplets from the infected persons to non-infected others. The present study investigated the microbial profile and the antibiogram of bacteria isolated from used and unused face/nose mask used in the prevention of corona virus. The analysis was carried out using standard microbiological procedures. The results revealed that both the used and unused mask harbor different bacterial species which included, Bacillus sp., Staphylococcus sp., E. coli, Micrococcus sp., Streptococcus sp., Pseudomonas sp., and Enterobacter sp. The presence of these isolates on the mask is of public health concern as it can lead to the spread of disease. The antibiogram profile of the isolate revealed that some of the organisms were resistant to more than one antibiotics indicating multi drug resistance. The isolates were mostly resistant to Nalidixic acid (NA), Septrin (S) and Augmentin (AU). The study proves that nose/mouth mask is a major source of contamination and spread of multi drug resistant organisms, thus good personal hygiene and following a proper infection control protocol is necessary to reduce the spread of the virus and other organisms.