Abstract
Mobile phones have become necessary companions to most health care personnel and have been implicated as reservoirs of known nosocomial agents. This study was carried out to determine the type and frequency of microorganisms’ contaminating mobile phones of health workers in a University Teaching Hospital in Nigeria. Swabs of 50 mobile phones were collected and cultured, and contaminants characterized. Forty three (86%) out of 50 mobile phones were positive for microbial contamination. Samples from doctors and medical students had 100% contamination and samples from nurses 70%. Six clinically important microorganisms were found. Staphylococcus sp was most predominant and constituted 30.2% while P. aeruginosa made up 14% and Klebsiella sp, 9.3% of the entire isolates. Given the frequent occurrence of potential pathogens as contaminants, there is the need for strict adherence to proper sanitary measures by all who operate in the hospital environment to avoid dissemination of pathogenic agents. Key words: Mobile phones, contamination, health care workers, nosocomial agent.
Highlights
Nosocomial infections are defined as infections resulting from pathogens acquired by patients while in the hospital or other clinical care facilities, these infections appear during hospitalization or after discharge (Kouchak and Askarian, 2012)
Subsequent analysis showed that amongst the 43 MPs contaminated by bacteria, frequency of the potentially clinical isolates were 13 (30.2%) for S. aureus, 9 (20.9%) for P. aeruginosa, 6 (14.0%) for P
Based on a study carried out in Nigeria by Akinyemi et al, (2009) on the microbial contamination of MPs belonging to different groups of people including marketers and food vendors, lecturers and students, hospital workers and public servants; hospital workers were found to have the lowest rate (15.3%)
Summary
Nosocomial infections are defined as infections resulting from pathogens acquired by patients while in the hospital or other clinical care facilities, these infections appear during hospitalization or after discharge (Kouchak and Askarian, 2012) These infections could affect the health care staff and visitors to the facility (Meltzer, 2003). Numerous genera and species of bacteria, viruses, and fungi including Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp, Enterococcus spp and Proteus spp are noted as etiologic agents of nosocomial infections. These agents vary between hospitals and geographical locations depending on the type of infection as well as the environmental predisposing factors found in a given area (Struelens et al, 2004).
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