Abstract
Background
Gastrointestinal microbial infections among healthcare individuals are very common due to several risk factors including inappropriate personal hygiene and socio-economic lifestyle. This study is the first cross sectional study that stratified the healthcare individuals to correlate personal hygiene and socio-economic lifestyle with gastrointestinal microbial infections. Moreover, this study compared the levels of H. pylori antibodies (IgG and IgA) in serum and saliva trying to find a surrogate non-invasive method for detection of H. pylori antibodies.
Methods
Two hundred healthcare individuals (HCIs) suffering from gastritis were enrolled. The HCIs included hospital workers, employees, nursing students, nurses, and doctors. Blood, saliva, and stool samples were collected from HCIs after obtaining their informed consent for microbial infection investigations.
Results
Data revealed a high rate of intestinal microbial infections among healthcare individuals. Some cases have single, double, triple microbial infection or even more. The highest rates of infection were detected among workers and nurses, followed by employees and nursing students; in contrast, the lowest rate of infection was detected among doctors. Moreover, data revealed the inappropriate personal hygiene and socio-economic lifestyle increase the incidence of high risk for microbial infections. Also, results showed that the levels of H. pylori antibodies are similar in serum and saliva samples.
Conclusion
Inappropriate personal hygiene and socio-economic lifestyle of healthcare individuals are directly correlated with the increased risk of gastrointestinal microbial infections. Moreover, the current study concluded that salivary immunoglobulins could be used as a non-invasive surrogate for the detection of H. pylori infection.