en بهداشت محیط بهداشت محیط پژوهشی اصیل Original Article <span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:normal"><span style="text-autospace:none"><span style="unicode-bidi:embed"><span calibri="" style="font-family:"><b><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="color:#003399">Background:</span></span></span></i></b><b> </b><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="color:black">Due to daily contact with the hands of many employees, timex machines are likely to be infected with various microorganisms, and as a result, employees and personnel can unintentionally transfer many bacterial and fungal agents to each other through their hands and cause the spread of diseases. Therefore, this study investigated the types of bacterial and fungal contamination of timex machines in hospitals affiliated with Babol University of Medical Sciences.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:normal"><span style="text-autospace:none"><span style="unicode-bidi:embed"><span calibri="" style="font-family:"><b><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="color:#003399">Methods:</span></span></span></i></b><b> </b><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="color:black">This research is a cross-sectional descriptive study.</span></span></span><b> </b><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="color:black">By referring to the hospitals affiliated to&nbsp; the Babol University of Medical Sciences, using sterile swabs that were moistened with sterile physiological serum, sampling was done from the surfaces of the timex machines and on the blood agar culture medium to identify bacterial contamination and Saburo dextrose agar for fungal contamination was cultured.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:normal"><span style="unicode-bidi:embed"><span calibri="" style="font-family:"><b><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="color:#003399">Results:</span></span></span></i></b> <span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="color:black">I</span></span></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:10.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="color:black">n this study, 120 samples were taken from the timex machines in hospitals, all the samples were positive for bacterial contamination, and in all the samples, the Staphylococcus genus was grown, of which 77.30% related to Staphylocoagulase negative species and 22.69% related s <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> strain. Bacillus bacteria were also detected in 11.26% of the samples. Also, 8.33% of the fungal samples were positive for fungal contamination and the strains were Candida albicans species.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:normal"><span style="unicode-bidi:embed"><span calibri="" style="font-family:"><b><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="color:#003399">Conclusion:</span></span></span></i></b> <span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="color:black">According to the results obtained from the culture samples taken from the surface of timex machines in the studied hospitals, pathogenic bacterial and fungal contaminations were found on them, which can cause and spread microbial and fungal diseases among employees and other members of society. Therefore, to prevent and control related diseases, continuous and daily disinfection of these machines is recommended.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> &nbsp; Bacterial and Fungal Contamination, Hand Pollution, Nasocomial Pathogen, Timex device 1 9 http://crms.mubabol.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-254-2&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Zahra Mousavi Majd zahramousavimajd12@gmail.com 10031947532846002574 10031947532846002574 No Environmental Health Research Center (EHRC), Health Research Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, I.R. Iran Elaheh Ferdosi Shahandashti elaheh.ferdosi@yahoo.com 10031947532846002575 10031947532846002575 No Research Center for New Biomedical and Microbial Technologies Mojtaba Taghizadeh Armaki 10031947532846002576 10031947532846002576 No Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center Health Research Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran Mahmoud Mehdinia smmehdinia@yahoo.ca 10031947532846002577 10031947532846002577 No Environmental Health Research Center (EHRC), Health Research Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, I.R. Iran Abdoliman Amouei iamouei1966@gmail.com 10031947532846002578 10031947532846002578 Yes Social Determinants of Health Research Center,Health Research Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran.