Micr obial contamination of mobile phones in a health care setting in Alexandria, Egypt Mikrobielle Kontamination von Mobiltelefonen in einer Gesundheitseinrichtung in Alexandria, Agypten
Abstract Aim:Thisstudyaimedatinvestigatingthemicrobialcontaminationofmobilephonesinahospitalsetting. HebaSayedSelim 1 AmaniFaroukAbaza 1 Methods:Swabsampleswerecollectedfrom40mobilephonesofpa tientsandhealthcareworkersattheAlexandriaUniversityStudents'Hospital.Theyweretestedfortheirbacterialcontaminationatthemi 1MicrobiologyDepartment, crobiologylaboratoryoftheHighInstituteofPublicHealth.Quantification HighInstituteofPublicHealth,AlexandriaUniversity,Alexandria,Egypt ofbacteriawasperformedusingbothsurfacespreadandpourplatemethods.Isolatedbacterialagentswereidentifiedusingstandardmi crobiologicalmethods.Methicillin resistantStaphylococcusaureuswasidentifiedbydiskdiffusionmethoddescribedbyBauerandKirby.Isol atedGram negativebacilliweretestedforbeingextendedspectrumbetalactamaseproducersusingthedoublediskdiffusionmethodac cordingtotheClinicalandLaboratoryStandardsInstituterecommenda tions.Results:Allofthetestedmobilephones(100%)werecontaminatedwitheithersingleormixedbacterialagents.Themostprevalentbacterialcontaminantsweremethicillin resistantS.aureusandcoagulase neg ativestaphylococcirepresenting53%and50%,respectively.Themeanbacterialcountwas357CFU/ml,whilethemedianwas13CFU/mlusingthepourplatemethod.Thecorrespondingfigureswere2,192and1,720organisms/phoneusingthesurfacespreadmethod.Conclusions:Mobilephonesusageinhospitalsettingsposesariskoftransmissionofavarietyofbacterialagentsincludingmultidrug resistantpathogens as methicillin resistant S.aureus. The surface spreadmethodisaneasyandusefultoolfordetectionandestimationofbac terialcontaminationofmobilephones.Keywords:mobilephones,bacterialcontamination,handhygiene,MRSA,ESBL