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Nosocomial infections are enhanced due to a flop in the infection control processes such as disinfection. The aim of this study was to assess long term effectiveness and the stability of disinfectants currently used within healthcare settings in Accra, Ghana against two indicator pathogens. Two locally produced and two imported disinfectants usually used in health care settings were obtained. The efficacy and long-term stability of the disinfectants was done using the in-use method, with identified microbial culture isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. Counts of both test organisms (Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus) were over and above the 5 ≥ CFU recommended standard. All the disinfectants failed the test. However, contamination was observed to be higher in local disinfectants as compared to those imported. Furthermore, Enterobacter spp was isolated as contaminant from one imported disinfected and Proteus spp was also isolated from one local disinfectant. Interestingly, one of the imported disinfectants (Disinfectant I) showed more stability and was effective in the long term. All disinfectants did not pass the in-use test. However, disinfectants that are produced locally are more unstable and ineffective. Key words: Infections, disinfectants, drug stability, hospital, pathogens, contamination.

Antibiotics are very important in the fight against infectious disease caused by bacteria and other microbes for decades. Today microbes have developed ways to resist antimicrobial agents targeted at them. We sought to characterize and simultaneously detect virulence genes associated water-borne antibiotic resistant Escherichia coli, obtained from water sampled from ground and surface water sources. The Analytical Profile Index (API) was use for the identifications of E. coli isolates. The Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method was employed for susceptibility testing. A DNA•STRIP molecular assay technology designed for detection of shiga toxin genes was used for the molecular characterization. E. coli isolates showed a high (32.99%), resistance to penicillin, and was highly susceptible (93.8%) to nitrofurantoin. E. coli was confirmed Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). None of the confirmed multidrug resistant E. coli isolate had genes for stx1 and stx2. However, the eae intimin virulence gene was found on 6% of the multidrug resistant E. coli isolates. It was concluded that E. coli has developed a very high resistance to the various antibiotics. Second, the genotype EHEC test based on the DNA•STRIP technology used in this study has proved to be efficient and reliable in the molecular characterization of the multi-drug resistant E. coli isolates. The DNA•STRIP Genotype EHEC technology test is therefore recommended for pathogenic E. coli detection and monitoring. There is also a need to revise strategies towards the multidrug resistance programme. Key words: DNA•STRIP Technology, Escherichia coli, polymerase chain reaction, drug resistance, water bourne.