Background: White coat has been used by medical profession for over two centuries, although it,s impacts on prevention and control of cross- infection and contamination have not been scientifically proved and thus has remained doubtful. We have examined bacterial and fungal contamination of white coats from all medical students who attended Microbiology Course in the fall 2007 at Medical School of Khoramabad.
Materials and Methods: Thirty seven white coats were tested by swabbing Cuff and front and were cultured in nutrient agar, thioglycolate broth and Mac Cankey agar. The plates were then incubated at 37 oC for 24h.The plates were then examined for colony morphology and total colony acount. A sample of water and air were examined, too.
Findings: Mean of colony count was 10.8 colonies per white coat which was higher than expected. Maximum count was l08 and minimum was zero (3 samples), with standard deviation of 17.9 in total. Most isolated bacteria were gram positive and environmental or skin commensals which are rarely associated with human clinical diseases. no bacteria was isolated on the Mac Cankey agar culture,indicating low contamination of white coat by gram negative bacteria.
Conclusion: Presence of some non pathogenic bacteria on the white coat is expected and can not be associated with cross-infection, yet further research is needed to investigate specific pathogen with special and selective media to draw the conclusion with some certainty.