Although self-service facilities (SSFs) have been used on a large scale worldwide, they can be easily contaminated by microorganisms from the hands of their sequential users. This research aimed to study the prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility/resistance of bacteria contaminating SSFs in Sakaka, Aljouf, Saudi Arabia. We randomly swabbed the surfaces of 200 SSFs, then used the suitable culture media, standard microbiological methods, and the MicroScan WalkAway Microbiology System, including the identification/antimicrobial susceptibility testing-combo panels. A high SSFs' bacterial contamination load was detected (78.00%). Ninety percent of the samples collected in the afternoon, during the maximum workload of the SSFs, yielded bacterial growth (p < 0.001 *). Most of the contaminated SSFs were supermarket payment machines, self-pumping equipment at gas stations (p = 0.004 *), online banking service machines (p = 0.026 *), and barcode scanners in supermarkets. In the antiseptic-deficient areas, 55.1% of the contaminated SSFs were detected (p = 0.008 *). Fifty percent of the contaminated SSFs were not decontaminated. The most common bacterial contaminants were Escherichia coli (70 isolates), Klebsiella pneumoniae (66 isolates), Staphylococcus epidermidis (34 isolates), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (18 isolates), and methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (14 isolates), representing 31.53%, 29.73%, 15.32%, 8.11%, and 6.31% of the isolates, respectively. Variable degrees of reduced sensitivity to some antimicrobials were detected among the bacterial isolates. The SSFs represent potential risks for the exchange of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria between the out-hospital environment and the hospitals through the hands of the public. As technology and science advance, there is an urgent need to deploy creative and automated techniques for decontaminating SSFs and make use of recent advancements in materials science for producing antibacterial surfaces.
Keywords: Escherichia coli; antibacterial surfaces; bacterial transmission; contamination; drug resistant staphylococci; prevention; technology.