Background: Healthcare associated infections (HAIs) have been recognized as a critical challenge affecting the quality of healthcare services provided. A significant proportion of these infections result from cross-contamination of microorganisms which are often acquired and spread by direct contact with patients or contaminated adjacent environmental surfaces through the hands of healthcare workers (HCWs). Material and methods: The present study was conducted in the department of Microbiology on the Health Care Workers of Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital Faridkot. Ethical clearance was taken from institutional ethical committee. Out of 100health care workers studied, 34 were doctors, 31 were nurses, 25 laboratory technicians and 10 health attendants only. Result: The most common bacterial isolates from the 97 purses that were culture positive in our study were Coagulase negative Staphylococci(26) followed by Diptheroids(21), Methicillin resistant Staphyloccous aureus(14), Micrococcus (11) Pseudomonas aeruginosa (9),Escherichia coli (5) Methicillin sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (5),Acinetobacter species( 4) and Klebsiella species (2). Antibiotics susceptibility testing of the staphylococcal isolates showed that most of the Coagulase negative staphylococci were Methicillin sensitive(24/26)while majority of Staphylococcal aureus isolates were Methicillin resistant (14/19) Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates showed higher resistance to other antibiotics as compare to Methicillin sensitive Staphylococcus aureus and the Coagulase negative staphylococci.All the staphylococcal isolates (MRSA, MSSA, MRCONS, and MSCONS) were susceptible to vancomycin and linezolid. Antibiotic susceptibility pattern of gram-negative isolates showed that most of the isolates were resistant to commonly used antibiotics most of these isolates were multi drug resistant. Conclusions; The result of the present study which was conducted to look for bacterial contamination of purses/handbags of various health care workers in our institute suggests that. Handbags and purses of health care workers are contaminated with various pathogenic and non pathogenic bacteria. The pathogenic bacteria were found to be resistant to multiple classes of antibiotics.Most of the health care workers never washed their purses/handbags.The health care workers should be encouraged to clean their handbags / purses frequently so that the bacterial contamination could be reduced.The health care workers should be familiar with proper hand washing technique, hand hygiene and should follow good infection control practices in the hospital which would result in decrease in colonization and contamination of inanimate objects like purses hence restricting the spread of these bacteria.
