Bacterial Contamination of External Door Handles in Small Retail Shops in Qasr Bin Ghashir, Libya: A Cross-Sectional Survey

• Reyad Mohialdeen

  Libyan Center for Studies and Research in Environmental Science and Technology / Brack, Libya

  Author

Background: Door handles represent frequently touched surfaces that may act as vehicles for microbial transmission. In regions with high temperature and strong sunlight, the survival of microorganisms on such surfaces can be influenced, yet data from community settings remain limited. Methods: This cross-sectional study examined 25 external door handles from retail shops in Qasr Bin Ghashir, Tripoli (15 food stores and 10 butcheries). Sterile swabs were collected and inoculated onto nutrient, blood, and MacConkey agar. Plates were incubated at 37 °C for 24–48 hours, and colony-forming units (CFU) were categorized into <10, 10–100, 101–1000, and >1000. Isolates were identified by morphology, Gram stain, and standard biochemical tests. Results: The predominant CFU category was 10–100 (40%). Bacillus spp. (35%) and coagulase-negative staphylococci (27%) were the most frequent isolates, followed by Micrococcus luteus (12%). Pathogenic species were also detected, including Staphylococcus aureus (6%), Enterococcus faecalis (15%), Escherichia coli (3%), and Klebsiella pneumoniae (3%), with butcheries yielding more pathogens. Heavy contamination (>1000 CFU) was observed on 16% of handles. Conclusion: Most door handles in this setting carried low-to-moderate bacterial loads, dominated by environmental and skin flora, though occasional pathogens were recovered. These findings emphasize the importance of routine disinfection of frequently touched surfaces and maintaining proper hand hygiene in community environments.

Abougrara, G., Algeblaue, G., Almabrouk, E. and Almahdi, E. (2024) ‘Isolation and Identification of Pathogenic Bacteria from Hospital Door Handles/Knobs’, *Khaleej Journal of Dentistry and Medical Research*, 8(1). doi:10.47705/kjdmar.248101.

Almansori, K. S., EL-barasi, O. M., Alhsady, E. N., Bader, S. F., Elzawi, M. E., Habeel, S. A., ... & Alakary, T. M. (2023). Isolation and Identification of Bacterial Types from Dinar Currency Coins Collected from Various Commercial Shops. Derna Academy Journal for Applied Sciences, 1(2), 100-105.

Alsharksi, A., Ali, A., Mustapha, A. and Alshagmani, M. (2025) ‘Bacterial profile and their antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of isolates recovered from intensive care units of Libyan hospitals’, *Razi Medical Journal*, 1(3), pp. 162–167. doi:10.69667/rmj.25311.

Appiah, P.O., Odoom, A., Tetteh-Quarcoo, P.B., Kotey, F.C.N. and Donkor, E.S. (2025) ‘Microbial contamination of door handles: a global systematic review and meta-analysis of public and healthcare settings’, *Environmental Health Insights*, 19, 11786302251328550. doi:10.1177/11786302251328550.

Ayuba, L., Suwange, M.P. and Enefiook, U.O. (2019) ‘Bacterial contamination of door handles/knobs in Gombe State University, Nigeria’, *International Journal of Microbiology Science and Technology*, 4(8), pp. 204–211.

Ben Ashur, A., El Magrahi, H., Yousha, E., Naser, M., Mousa, A. and Atia, A. (2022) ‘Bacterial contamination of neonatal intensive care unit’, *Khaleej Journal of Dentistry and Medical Research*, 6(2). doi:10.47705/kjdmar.2262009.

Edi, D. (2023) ‘Occurrence and prevalence of bacteria on door handles at a teaching hospital in Nigeria’, *Access Microbiology*, 5, 000615. doi:10.1099/acmi.0.000615.

Elzouki, E. M., Eljamay, S. M., & Alshilwi, Y. A. (2024). Isolation and Identification of Escherichia Coli in Uropathogenesis. Derna Academy Journal for Applied Sciences, 2(2), 103-110.

European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) (2023) ‘The European Union summary report on trends and sources of zoonoses, zoonotic agents and food-borne outbreaks’, *EFSA Journal*, 21(12), e08108. doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2023.8108.

Feng, K.C., Li, Y., Tan, F., Zhang, C., Wang, L. and Zhu, S. (2022) ‘Efficacy of hypochlorous acid fog in sanitizing indoor environments’, *American Journal of Infection Control*, 50(12), pp. 1327–1334. doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2022.09.015.

Government of Canada (2023) ‘Pathogen safety data sheet: *Enterococcus faecalis/faecium*’. Ottawa: Public Health Agency of Canada. Available at: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/laboratory-biosafety-biosecurity/pathogen-safety-data-sheets.html (Accessed: 15 September 2025).

Jabłońska-Trypuć, A., Wydro, A., Wołejko, E., Butarewicz, A., Czerniecka, K. and Lewandowski, W. (2022) ‘Inanimate surfaces as a source of hospital infections’, *International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health*, 19(13), 8121. doi:10.3390/ijerph19138121.

Kramer, A., Schwebke, I. and Kampf, G. (2006) ‘How long do nosocomial pathogens persist on inanimate surfaces?’, *BMC Infectious Diseases*, 6, p. 130. doi:10.1186/1471-2334-6-130.

Neely, A.N. and Maley, M.P. (2000) ‘Survival of Enterococci and Staphylococci on hospital fabrics and plastic’, *Journal of Clinical Microbiology*, 38(2), pp. 724–726. doi:10.1128/JCM.38.2.724-726.2000.

Nicholson, W.L., Munakata, N., Horneck, G., Melosh, H.J. and Setlow, P. (2000) ‘Resistance of Bacillus endospores to extreme terrestrial and extraterrestrial environments’, *Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews*, 64(3), pp. 548–572. doi:10.1128/MMBR.64.3.548-572.2000.

Querido, M.M., Agostinho, A., Pereira, C.C., Silva, F.L., Santos, A.L. and Almeida, A. (2019) ‘Self-disinfecting surfaces and infection control’, *Critical Reviews in Microbiology*, 45(6), pp. 795–815. doi:10.1080/1040841X.2019.1654327.

Shimoda, T., Umezawa, K., Sekizuka, T., Mizukoshi, F., Hanazono, M., Komano, J., Kuroda, M. and Nishimura, M. (2019) ‘Effect of thermal control of dry fomites on regulating the survival of human pathogenic bacteria’, *PLoS ONE*, 14(12), e0226952. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0226952.

Wendt, C., Wiesenthal, B., Dietz, E. and Rüden, H. (1998) ‘Survival of vancomycin-resistant and -susceptible *Enterococcus faecium* on dry surfaces’, *Journal of Clinical Microbiology*, 36(11), pp. 3734–3736. doi:10.1128/JCM.36.11.3734-3736.1998.

World Health Organization (2009) *WHO guidelines on hand hygiene in health care*. Geneva: World Health Organization.

World Health Organization (2010) *The WHO multimodal hand hygiene improvement strategy*. Geneva: World Health Organization.

Xie, Y., Yang, W., Zhang, T., Liu, J., Yang, W., Zhang, W. and Zhang, X. (2024) ‘Survival of *Salmonella enterica* and *Enterococcus faecium* on dry surfaces’, *Food Microbiology*, 114, 104278. doi:10.1016/j.fm.2023.104278

• pdf

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.