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The hospital environment, especially medical devices and surfaces, represents a secondary reservoir for pathogens. This work aims to evaluate the microbiological quality of surfaces and medical equipment of controlled environment services (burn unit, operating room, and sterilization service) at a hospital in Meknes (center of Morocco). This study was carried out for three months (September-December of 2017). A total of 63 samples were taken by swabbing technique from different surfaces and medical equipment after bio-cleaning. Identification was performed according to conventional bacteriological methods and by microscopic observation for fungi. The study showed that 68% of the surface was contaminated. The operating room recorded a rate of 93% of contamination (p-value

Wastewater and human excreta are threatening the quality of groundwater and watercourses in rural areas of Morocco. The new sanitation approach that has advantage to solve the problems of pathogens of human waste at source and offering the possibility of reusing them after treatment is called Ecological Sanitation (EcoSan) could be an alternative solution to the conventional one. It is in this perspective that our study made an investigation on economic, ecological, sustainable sanitation techniques adapted to the Moroccan context. Indeed, a survey was carried out at Dayet Ifrah village to assess the population appreciation of the EcoSan structures installed. Survey results showed that these structures have been generally accepted by almost all users and non-users (95%). On the other hand, a pilot-scale system composed by two types of filters (vertical constructed wetland and vertical Multi-Soil-Layering) have been installed in order to treat domestic wastewater coming from a single household and their performance was evaluated. The filters showed good performance to remove organic pollution (> 84.5%) and orthophosphate (> 68%). The reduction of ammonium were 84.5% and 35.3% for vertical Multi-Soil-Layering and vertical constructed wetland, respectively. The quality of the wastewater treated was evaluated in accordance with the standard of the rejection limit value adopted by Morocco.

The present study was conducted to better understand the specific contingency of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli (E. coli) isolated from urban waters of Wadi Ouislane of the city of Meknes, compared to isolates from patients hospitalized in the resuscitation department at Mohamed V Hospital in Meknes, Morocco. These antibiotic-resistant bacteria have become ubiquitous in effluents, creating increasing concern about their potential impact on human and animal health and the environment. We took four samples of wastewater representative of a day, effluents of the wadi Ouislane. They were analyzed for indicator germs of fecal pollution, namely total coliforms (TC) and fecal coliforms (FC). Bacteria were enumerated by the dilution-filtration technique and by incorporation in solid medium in supercooling. However, four bacteriological samples, taken for clinical purposes from hospitalized patients, were performed at the medical analysis laboratory of Mohamed V Hospital in Meknes. Analysis of our results showed that ESBL-producing E. coli bacteria isolated from our effluents had the same antibiotic resistance profiles as those from hospitalized patients. Urban wastewater discharges into the environment contribute to the dissemination of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli that may pose health risks to the population.