Analysis of monitoring of microorganism on a surface of public articles in public places of Qingdao, China, 2018—2021

Objective To evaluate the hygienic status based on the monitoring of microorganism on a surface of public articles of public places in Qingdao.

Methods Random sampling monitoring was carried for of the public articles in public places of Qingdao from 2018 to 2021. The test results of the samples were analyzed between different public places, difference public articles and different microorganism indicators.

Results A total of 2 295 samples of public articles were collected with the overall qualified rate being 91.94%, and the qualified rates increased year by year from 2018 to 2021. Among different public places, public articles of hairdressing had the highest qualified rate (95.35%), followed by hotels (93.28%), while bathing (84.50%) had the lowest qualified rate. Among the public articles sampled, the qualified rate of elevators was the highest (100%), and the qualified rate of slippers was the lowest (50.00%). Staphylococcus aureus was not detected in any public articles, and the four-year qualified rate of the total fungi count was only 60.00%. The differences of the above data were statistically significant with P < 0.05.

Conclusion The hygienic status of public articles in public places in Qingdao was good, showing a trend of improvement year by year. However, there were a few microorganism indicators beyond the standard. Thus, it is necessary to strengthen the microorganism monitoring and health management of public places.