Mobile Phones as a Source of Bacterial Infection
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37375/sjfssu.v3i1.155Keywords:
Benghazi, mobile phone, pathogens, nosocomial, reservoir, antibioticsAbstract
Background: The wide spread of mobile phones in recent years inevitably raises the question of whether they are an exogenous source of infections.
Design: A cross-sectional study was carried out among some teachers, educational staff, doctors, and nurses selected using the multi-stage stratified random sampling technique. 100 samples were collected from some teachers, educational staff, doctors, and nurses in some hospitals in Benghazi.
Results: The organisms sequentially isolated in this study, based on colonial, morphological, and biochemical characteristics, were coagulase-negative Staphylococci (58%), Staphylococcus aureus (12%), Corynebacterium urealyticum (6%), Bacillus cereus (5%), Tatumella ptyseos (3%), Leuconostoc lactis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, All isolates were resistant to more than one antibiotic. This revealed that mobile phones may have a notable role in the transmission of multidrug-resistant nosocomial pathogens.
Conclusions: This study showed microbial contamination on personal mobile phones and hands. Some of the contaminated mobile phone microorganisms (such as Staphylococcus aureus) were epidemiologically important nosocomial drug-resistant pathogens. These isolates of bacteria were resistant to commonly used antimicrobials such as amoxicillin, gentamicin, and ciprofloxacin. These results showed that mobile phones and personal's hands were contaminated with various types of bacteria, which suggested that mobile phones (used by people in daily practice) may be a source of nosocomial infections.
References
Angadi, Kalpana M., et al. "Study of the role of mobile phones in the transmission of Hospital acquired infections." Medical Journal of Dr. DY Patil University 7.4 (2014): 435.
Angelakis, Emmanouil, et al. "Paper money and coins as potential vectors of transmissible disease." Future microbiology 9.2 (2014): 249-261.
Banawas, Saeed, et al. "Multidrug-resistant bacteria associated with cell phones of healthcare professionals in selected hospitals in Saudi Arabia." Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology 2018 (2018).
Bauer, A. W. M. M., W. M. M. Kirby, and J. C&turck Sherris. "turck, Turck M. Antibiotic susceptibility testing by a standardized single disk method." American journal of clinical pathology 45.4 (1966): 493.
Becker, Karsten, Christine Heilmann, and Georg Peters. "Coagulase-negative staphylococci." Clinical microbiology reviews 27.4 (2014): 870-926.
Brady RR, Wasson A, Stirling I, McAllister C, Damani NN. Is your phone bugged? The incidence of bacteria known to cause nosocomial infection on healthcare worker's mobile phones. J. Hosp. Infect. , (2006); 62: 123-125.
Bouchami, O., et al. "Antibiotic resistance and molecular characterization of clinical isolates of methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci isolated from bacteremic patients in oncohematology." Folia microbiologica 56 (2011): 122-130.
Chambers, Henry F., and Frank R. DeLeo. "Waves of resistance: Staphylococcus aureus in the antibiotic era." Nature Reviews Microbiology 7.9 (2009): 629-641.
Cheesbrough M. Medical Laboratory Manual for Tropical Countries, First edition, Vol 2.Thetford press Ltd. (1984), England.
Deyno, Serawit, Sintayehu Fekadu, and Ayalew Astatkie. "Resistance of Staphylococcus aureus to antimicrobial agents in Ethiopia: a meta-analysis." Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control 6.1 (2017): 1-15.
Eltablawy, S. Y., and H. N. Elhifnawi. "Microbial contamination of some computer keyboards and mice in National Center for Radiation Research and Technology (NCRRT)." World Applied Sciences Journal 6.2 (2009): 162-167.
Famurwa O, David OM. cell phone: A Medium of transmission of bacterial pathogens. World Rural Observations, (2009); 1:69-72.
Gatermann, S. G., T. Koschinski, and S. Friedrich. "Distribution and expression of macrolide resistance genes in coagulase-negative staphylococci." Clinical microbiology and infection 13.8 (2007): 777-781.
Gurang, B., et al. "Do mobiles carry pathogens." J Microbiol 23 (2008): 45-76.
Haydon, Daniel T., et al. "Identifying reservoirs of infection: a conceptual and practical challenge." Emerging infectious diseases 8.12 (2002): 1468-1473.
Hendley JO, Wenzel RP, Gwaltney JMJ. Transmission of rhinovirus colds by self-inoculation. New. Eng. J. Med., (1997); 288: 1361-1664.
Holt, John G., et al. "Bergey's Manual of determinate bacteriology." (1994).
Ilusanya, O. A. F., et al. "Personal hygiene and microbial contamination of mobile phones of food vendors in Ago-Iwoye Town, Ogun State, Nigeria." Pakistan journal of nutrition (2012).
Joanne MW, Linda MS, Christopher JW. Prescott, Harley and Kleins Microbiology, 7th Edition, Mc. Graw-Hill International. (2008) Pp.1-17.
Karabay, Oguz, Esra Koçoglu, and Mustafa Tahtaci. "The role of mobile phones in the spread of bacteria associated with nosocomial infections." J Infect Dev Ctries 1.1 (2007): 72-73.
Lalaouna, David, et al. "MS2-affinity purification coupled with RNA sequencing approach in the human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus." Methods in enzymology. Vol. 612. Academic Press, 2018. 393-411.
Mac kowiak PA. The normal Microbial Flora. N. Engl. J. Med., (1982); 307:83-93.
Morad Asaad, Ahmed, Mohamed Ansar Qureshi, and Syed Mujeeb Hasan. "Clinical significance of coagulase-negative staphylococci isolates from nosocomial bloodstream infections." Infectious Diseases 48.5 (2016): 356-360.
Nwankwo, E. O., N. Ekwunife, and K. C. Mofolorunsho. "Nosocomial pathogens associated with the mobile phones of healthcare workers in a hospital in Anyigba, Kogi state, Nigeria." Journal of epidemiology and global health 4.2 (2014): 135-140.
Rafferty KM, Pancoast SJ. Brief report: Bacteriological sampling of telephones and other hospital staff hand-contact objects. Infect. Control, 1984; 5: 533-535.
Roy, Priyamvada, et al. "Multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus hominis subsp. novobiosepticus causing septicemia in patients with malignancy." Indian Journal of Pathology and Microbiology 57.2 (2014): 275.
Schultz M, Gill J, Zubairi S, Huber R, Gordin F. Bacterial contamination of computer keyboards in a teaching hospital. Infect.Control Hosp. Epidemiol., 2003; 24:302-303.
Tiron, Roxana, et al. "Screening for obstructive sleep apnea with novel hybrid acoustic smartphone app technology." Journal of Thoracic Disease 12.8 (2020): 4476.
Wikler, Matthew A. "Performance standards for antimicrobial disk susceptibility tests: approved standard." (No Title) (2006).
Zakai, Shadi, et al. "Bacterial contamination of cell phones of medical students at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia." Journal of Microscopy and Ultrastructure 4.3 (2016): 143-146.
Zhao, Jijun, et al. "Model analysis of fomite mediated influenza transmission." PloS one 7.12 (2012): e51984.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Scientific Journal for Faculty of Science-Sirte University
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
