Quantitative analysis of microorganisms found in pacifier

Abstract

The pacifier is an archaeological discovery dated from 100 B.C., representing the cultural aspects which purpose was to replace the nipples of mother’s breasts. The research was done aiming to evaluate quantitatively the amount of microorganisms that could be found on 30 pacifier samples used by children of the Odontopediatric Clinic of the University of Campinas (PUC-Campinas). The material samples were collected through saline swabs taken from the nipple and also from the nipple/basis of breast. The swabs samples were kept on BHI and chilled on Saboraud and Agar Sanguis. The microorganisms count was done after 6 days using the Mann-Whitney test for statistical analyses. The results reveled a significant statistical difference (p=0.0007) between the numbers of bacteria CFU - Colony Formation Units when compared to the fungus CFU, clearly showing that the contamination was mostly caused by fungus. It was concluded that 30 pacifiers were contaminated both by fungus and bacteria.