Isolation and identification of <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> and <i>Candida spp.</i> in cosmetics used by female students in University of Benin hostels

Cosmetics are not meant to be sterile as most constituents form nutrients for the growth of various microorganisms. However, they are not to contain specific pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans so as not to impair skin and mucous membrane defense mechanisms. This research was carried out to investigate the presence of two of these pathogenic microorganisms, Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans in one hundred different samples of cosmetics used by female students residing in the hostels of the University of Benin. Each of the cosmetics samples were swabbed with sterile swab sticks and inoculated in Mannitol Salt agar and Saboraud Dextrose agar and incubated at 37°C for 48 hours and pure isolates obtained after subculturing on Nutrient agar and CHROMagarCandida plus medium were analyzed to confirm isolates. Statistical analysis revealed a significant association between the type of cosmetic and the presence of Staphylococcus aureus (p= 0.001) as the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus in each cosmetic type varied with each type of cosmetic with lip gloss having the highest prevalence of 52.8% and Nail polish having no presence of S. aureus. No statistically significant association was seen in the case of Candida species (0.0907). There was also no statistically significant association between cosmetics usage habits and contamination with both of the organisms. The presence of pathogenic microorganisms in cosmetics can pose potential health risks especially in immuno-compromised individuals and as such education on the potential health risks and safe usage practices is needed.