ANTS AS POTENTIAL VECTORS OF PATHOGENS IN HOSPITALS IN THE STATE OF SAO-PAULO, BRAZIL

Baiting studies performed in large, medium and small hospitals in Braz il revealed the presence of 14 ant species, with up to nine recorded i n one hospital. Dominant species were exotic ants, and in the large ho spital, Tapinoma melanocephalum was the most prevalent. Ants were not uniformly spread through the hospitals, but tended to be found in the more critical areas, particularly in nursery, intensive care, obstetri cs, neurology and dermatology units. Bacteriological studies using spe cific media for bacteria associated with intra-hospital infections ind icated the potential for the mechanical vectoring of species of Staphy lococcus, Serratia, Klebsiella, Acinetobacter, Enterobacter, Candida a nd Enterococcus by ants. Although T. melanocephalum did not have the h ighest rate of association with these bacteria, its ubiquitous occurre nces resulted in the highest overall potential as a vector of these ba cteria. Because of a large number of ant species occurring in Brazilia n hospitals, ants pose a potential problem to the spread of diseases i n hospitals. Because of the number of associated ant species in hospit als, the control of this potential problem is much more difficult than in registered temperate areas.