Design of a toilet seat cleaning mechanism to prevent the spread of UTIs in public toilets.

Abstract

A urinary tract infection (UTI) is an ailment that affects any part of the renal(genitourinary) system due to abnormal bacterial growthwithin the system (I. Odongo et al., 2020, Odoki et al., 2019) mainly caused by Escherichia coli, a bacterium common in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. UTIs are one of the leading causes of morbidity in medical practice, and they are among the most common bacterial infections with increasing antimicrobial resistance (I. Odongo et al., 2020, Sekikubo et al., 2017, C. O. Odongo et al.,2013), which makes them a first class societal potential hazard as they risk becoming incurable due to their high mutation rates. Other pathogens such as Enterococcus sp., Staphylococcus saprophyticus (honeymoon cystitis), Klebsiella sp., Enterobacter sp., Citrobacter sp., Proteus-Morganella-Providencia sp., norovirus, and S. aureus, also contribute to UTIs to a smaller extent. UTIs may present any combination or all of the following symptoms; dysuria, lower abdominal pain (LAP), pyuria, fever, itching, genital & suprapubic pain, blisters & ulceration of the genitalia, and vomiting in children under 5 years (Odoki et al., 2019). The annual contraction rate is estimated at 150million people, amounting to an average direct healthcare bill of USD 6 billion globally. There was a recorded lifetime incidence of 40-50% of adult women in USA in 2014 and 10% of post-menopausali women admitted to having a UTI the previous year. In Senegal, the prevalence was reported at 0.7% for those admitted to Dakar Senegal, the university hospital. The prevalence for Algeria the prevalence was 4.5% for those in acute care for over 2 days. In Uganda, the overall national prevalence was documented as 38.8% and 22.3% in Bushenyi district (Odoki et al., 2019),35% in Mbarara (Johnson et al., 2021). In a study to establish the relationship between washrooms and drug-resistant bacteria (Suen et al., 2019), it was found that the humid and warm environment of the washrooms favors the growth and multiplication of microorganisms. The seat cleaning mechanisms will solve the irregular seat cleaning schedules, make the toilets more visually appealing and instill a mental satisfaction of safety (no expectation of disease) in the users, enhance the attainment of SDGs 3 & 6, objective 4 of the NDPIII which anticipates a WASH coverage (improved toilets in particular) of 80% from the current 19% (Authority, 2020). The system was tested for tensile linits using the FEA in SolidWorks, and the resulting stability results were found satisfactory. The NPV of the project was calculated at UGX86, 797,549.7625 using a risk factor of 10%, and the profitability index was established as UGX104. Key words; UTI, prevalence, diagnostic, sensors, linkages, resistance, E. coli.