Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus occurrence and resistance in public playgrounds

This dataset corresponds to the article titled “Patterns of occurrence and antimicrobial resistance of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus in public playgrounds” published in Scientific Reports. 2026. doi: 10.1038/s41598-026-49426-x.

All playgrounds included in the study were located within the city of Lublin, Poland. Samples were collected in 2023 from various playground attractions.
Isolates of E. coli and S. aureus from environmental samples were obtained using chromogenic media. Bacterial isolates were identified using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). The antibiotic susceptibility of the isolated bacterial strains was evaluated using the Kirby–Bauer disk diffusion method on Mueller-Hinton agar. The diameters of the inhibition zones were measured to the nearest millimeter and interpreted according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) breakpoints. In total, 15 antibiotics were tested against E. coli isolates and 11 against S. aureus isolates.
The project is financed by the Minister of Education and Science under “Student Science Clubs Create Innovations” (SKN/SP/570395/2023).