Authors : W.H. Himratul-Aznita , R.N.S. Raja Dzulkeffli and S.H. Muhadi
Abstract: This study was carried out to investigate the presence of contaminating microorganisms on regularly used toothbrush and to determine the antibiotics resistance of the isolated microbes towards selective antimicrobial agents. A few types of different species were recovered from the toothbrush, which include Pseudomonas sp., Lactobacillus sp., Leuconostoc sp., Aerococcus sp. and Staphylococcus sp. These microbes adhered to the toothbrush bristles and could be acquired from dust, skin, water or even the water pipeline system. All isolated species were tested against ampicillin, kanamycin, sulfonamide and polymyxin-B. As high as 67.5% of isolates were resistant towards ampicillin and 47.5% towards kanamycin. Besides these two antibiotics, 35.0 and 17.5% isolates were found to be resistant towards sulfonamide and polymyxin-B, respectively. In addition, all species were shown to have multiple resistance towards various antibiotics tested and all isolated species were resistant to at least two different antibiotics. Thus, these multiple antimicrobial resistance ability could be transferred from the microbes that contaminate the toothbrush to human through the prolonged usage of the same toothbrush.
W.H. Himratul-Aznita , R.N.S. Raja Dzulkeffli and S.H. Muhadi , 2007. Isolation and Antibiotic Resistance of Microorganisms from Toothbrush. Research Journal of Biological Sciences, 2: 54-56.