Materials and Methods
The study was approved by Institute Ethics Committee vide number NK/530/Res/3516 Dt. 15.11.2012.
Sample collection
A total of 100 samples (50 tap water samples and 50 swabs form tap mouths) were collected from 50 taps used for drinking (including seven reverse osmosis filter taps), hand washing and bathing purposes in BMT ward (25 taps), HDU (9 taps), TICU (13 taps) and HU (3 taps) of our institute over a period of four months from March to June 2014. The taps also included those of nursing counters, coffee rooms and pantry. Sterile cotton swabs were used to swipe the mouth of the taps before opening them and then dipped into 1 ml of sterile distilled water. The mouth of the tap was then flamed and water was allowed to run for 5–10 minutes, after which 500 ml of water was collected in sterile glass bottles.[6]
After the isolation of free living amoebae from these sites, all the taps and water purifications systems were serviced and thoroughly cleaned and follow-up samples a week after, yielded negative results.
Filtration of water and culture of FLA