Abstract
Mobile phones are increasingly used by professionals, university staffs and health care personnel for communication. These can harbor various potential pathogens. This study evaluates and identifies the bacterial contamination rate of mobile phones in the university setting that are in frequent contact with faculty members, personnel, students and/or physicians and nurses in the university clinic. A total of 101 mobile phones belonging to different categories working in various departments at Taif University, KSA were screened for microorganisms’ contamination. Out of the total 101 mobile phones, growth was obtained in 78 (77.2%) mobile phones; 70 (89.7%) from staffs, personnel, students and 8 (10.3%) from clinical workers. Staphylococcusspp and Bacillus spp were the most commonly isolated organisms. Coagulase negative Staphylococcus was the most frequently isolated; 60 (27.12%). The efficacy of decontamination with 70% isopropyl alcohol was found to be 71.3%, as only 29 mobile phones showed growth after decontamination. It was found that around 61.5% of the mobile phones of health care workers at university clinic were contaminated and thus acted as a potential source of nosocomial infections. According to morphological, physiological characteristics, APi profiles and sequencing of 16S-rRNA gene, the selected eight isolates were identified as Bacillus pumilus, Bacillus cereus,Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus hominis, Staphylococcus succinus,Staphylococcus xylosus and Staphylococcus saprophyticus. Based on random amplified polymorphic DNA-polymerase chain reaction (RAPD-PCR), 32 unique RAPD fragments were identified among the selected isolates. Such unique fragments could be considered as specific markers and might be utilized in tracking the bacterial isolates. Key words: Mobile phones, contamination, pathogen carriers, coagulase negative staphylococci, Bacillus species, 16S-rRNA, random amplified polymorphic DNA-polymerase chain reaction (RAPD-PCR)
Highlights
Mobile phones have become an integral and indispensable part of daily life (Karabay et al, 2007).Mobile phones are increasingly becoming an important means of communication
Bacterial flora on mobile phones of faculty members may vary in composition, number and antibiotic sensitivity, to that found on mobile phones of non-faculty members
Mobile phones were decontaminated with 70% isopropylalchohol and sampled swabs after decontamination were streaked over sheep blood agar, mannitol salt agar, eosin methylene blue agar (EMB), Streptococccus selective agar media and MacConkey agar plates, for characterization of aerobic bacteria; no anaerobic/fungal cultures were taken
Summary
Mobile phones are increasingly becoming an important means of communication. The vast majority of mobile phones are hand-held (Al-Abdalall et al, 2010). Combination of constant handling with the heat generated by the phones creates a prime breeding ground for many microorganisms that are normally found on the skin (Ekrakene and Igeleke, 2007). Mobile phones have been reported to be a reservoir for microorganisms. It has been reported that a mobile phone can harbor more microorganisms than a man’s lavatory seat, the sole of a shoe or the door handle (Brady et al, 2006). Mobile phones could be contaminated through sources such as human skin or hand, bag, phone pouch, bags, pockets, environment and food particles, these sources are links through which microorganisms colonized the phone, causing diseases that range from mild to chronic
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