부산대학교 도서관

We have our ice machines placed at each of our hospital wards regularly cleaned and maintained by the supplier. One of the machines turned out to be very dirty and had developed a bacterial biofilm on the surface of the upper wall above the water pan. At the request of the Infection Control Team (ICT) controlling bacterial contamination surveillance, we performed bacterial culture testing. The results revealed that the water pan was contaminated by numerous heterotrophic bacteria and fungi. We suspected that the ice may be contaminated as well and conducted a survey of the ice made by ice machines placed in three different wards. We also tested the ice made by three different home freezers for comparison. Heterotrophic bacteria, Sphingomonas paucimobilis (S.paucimobilis), and Methylobacterium sp., were detected from all the tested ice samples, and fungi were detected from some ice samples. Our study indicates that monitoring the microbiological cleanliness of ice machines is necessary, and it is desirable to use home freezers and to use clean tap water after running at least 1 liter.