Microbial Contamination and Care Methods of Rugs and Floor Covers at Some Mosques in the Governate of Al –Ahsa Kingdom Saudi Arabia

Mohamed, Eman; Ghanem, Nevin; Hanafy, Dina; El Kawmany, Manal

doi:10.21608/asejaiqjsae.2012.159433

Microbial Contamination and Care Methods of Rugs and Floor Covers at Some Mosques in the Governate of Al –Ahsa Kingdom Saudi Arabia

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

10.21608/asejaiqjsae.2012.159433

Abstract

This research was conducted in order to know the microbial contamination contents of rugs and floor coversof mosques, demonstrating the importance of care methods on their presence and to control their growth, and thus maintaining the health of people attending the mosques. A field study was done to determine the general data about mosques and mode of taking care of rugs and floor covers. Data was collected from sample of 50 mosques at Al – Ahsa governate from its northern eastern and southern regions. To collect data a questionnaire has been done as a method of field study, and by personal interview with those who are responsible about the mosques. Results revealed that the responsible of taking care of rugs and floor coversis the khadem of Al-masjisd, and the most common defects found were the erosion of the pile on the surface, and the appearance of foul odor. About 54% of mosques used vacuum cleaning once a week as a tool of taking care of rugs and floor covers. Microbial samples analysis collected from different mosques rugs at northern region indicates that the most common fungi were Apergillus niger, Rhizopus, Penicillium, Alternaria, Aspergillus flavus and Fusarium. Results from mosques at eastern region showed that the presence of fungi was scarce, meanwhile at the mosques of the southern region, the most dominant fungi were Apergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus andsome colonies of yeast.
Laboratory results indicated that the rugs and floor covers made of polypropylene had a significant relationship between the number of knots, the weight per meter square , and the number of rows of pile and increasing the number of fungi colonies., and the relationship between the height of the pile and increasing in fungi colonies was insignificant.
The use of some detergents showed that chlorine at concentrations of (1, 2, 5%) showed a small effect to stop the growth of certain fungi, While carpet shampoo and Dettol totally prevented the growth of studied specimens .Vinegar at different concentrations had as a strong influence on the growth of fungi.

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