Role of mobile phones as a possible source of nosocomial infections: A study in a tertiary care hospital

---

Original Article

Author Details : Prasanna Chhagan Nakate, Mangala Prakash Ghatole, Virendra Ashok Kashetty

Volume : 3, Issue : 4, Year : 2016

Article Page : 429-431

Suggest article by email

Get Permission

---

Abstract

Background: Mobile phones of health care workers (HCW) may harbor pathogenic microorganisms and act as a source of infections for patients. This study was conducted to determine the bacterial contamination of mobile phones in health care workers (HCW) and to compare it with mobile phones of non-HCW’s.
Methods: Mobile phones of 125 HCW’s were screened for bacterial contamination and it is compared with mobile phones of 125 non-HCW’s. The isolated bacteria were identified using standard microbiological techniques.
Results: The study revealed bacterial contamination in case of 120 mobile phones of HCW’s and 121mobile phones from non-HCW’s. Commonest organism isolated was Coagulase negative Staphylococci in both groups. 37bacterial isolates (30.83%) from HCW’s were significant nosocomial pathogens whereas 46 isolates (38.01%) from non-HCW were pathogenic; Staphylococcus aureus being the most frequent isolate for both groups.
Conclusion: As mobile phones act as reservoir of micro-organisms among HCW’s, frequent disinfection of these along with good hand hygiene practices is important for preventing transmission of infectious organisms. In addition screening of mobile phones for nosocomial pathogens and restricting their use in sensitive areas of hospital is also advisable.

Keywords: Mobile phones, Healthcare associated infections, Nosocomial infections

How to cite : Nakate P C, Ghatole M P, Kashetty V A, Role of mobile phones as a possible source of nosocomial infections: A study in a tertiary care hospital. Indian J Microbiol Res 2016;3(4):429-431

This is an Open Access (OA) journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.