Repeated reuse of insulin injection syringes and incidence of bacterial contamination among diabetic patients in Jimma University Specialized Hospital, Jimma, Ethiopia

Objective: To determine the level of bacterial contamination of reused insulin syringes among\uddiabetic patients.\udMethods: A facility based cross sectional study was conducted among diabetic patients. Data\udon socio-demographic variables, history of injection syringe reuse, and frequency of reuse of\udsyringes were collected using predesigned questionnaire. Finally, the samples from the syringes\udwere cultured according to standard microbiological techniques.\udResults: Eighteen diabetic patients at Jimma University Hospital participated. A total of 83.3% of\udparticipants reused a single injection syringe for >30 consecutive injections, while 16.7%, reused\udfor ≤30 injections. Our results showed 22.2% of syringes were contaminated with methicillin\udresistant Staphylococcus aureus.\udConclusions: We conclude reuse of syringes is associated with microbial contamination.\udThe findings that 4/18 syringes being contaminated with bacteria is an alarming situation. A\udmechanism should be designed for patient ’s to get injection syringes with affordable price. If\udreusing is not avoidable, reducing number of injections per a single syringe and avoiding needle\udtouching with hand or other non-sterile material may be an alternative to reduce the risk of\udcontamination