Microbiological profile of bacteria present on mobile phones of health care personel that cause nosocomial infections

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Author Details : V Nagamadhavi, P Subbulu*, Tejaswini

Volume : 6, Issue : 1, Year : 2019

Article Page : 38-43

https://doi.org/10.18231/2394-5478.2019.0009

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Abstract

Introduction: Smart phones have become omnipresent in Clinical and Non clinical environment. They have been implicated as a source of bacterial contamination. Drug resistant pathogens such as methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Gram negative bacteria.
Aims and Objectives: To evaluate the role of mobile phones in relation to transmission of bacteria from mobile phone to health care workers and their pathogenicity.
Inclusion Criteria: Medical faculty present on the days of data collection.
Exclusion Criteria: Who ever don’t give consent.
Materials and Methods: In total, 200 mobile phones were sampled. Two senior medical students were trained by a senior microbiologist to obtain the swabs in a standardized manner. The sides, screen and back of mobile phones were swabbed using a sterile cotton swab. The swabs were taken to the laboratory without delay and are incubated in brain heart infusion broth and incubated at 37 degrees for 24-48 hrs. Positive samples were further sub cultured on different growth media; mannitolsaltagar to isolate Staphylococci, MacConkey-agar to isolate Gram negative bacteria and Entero coccosel-agar to isolate fecal Enterococci.
Results: Out of 200 cell phones sampled, 66 were found contaminated with varied number of bacteria. The most commonly isolated organism was aerobic spore bacilli 33(16.5%) followed by Pseudomonas 13(6.5%), Proteus 11(5.5%), Escherichia coli 7(3.5%), Klebsiella 1(0.5%), Staphylococcus aureus 1(0.5%).

Keywords: Nosocomial infections, Drug resistance, Sterile swab, MRSA, Antibiotic susceptibility testing.

How to cite : Nagamadhavi V, Subbulu P, Tejaswini, Microbiological profile of bacteria present on mobile phones of health care personel that cause nosocomial infections. Indian J Microbiol Res 2019;6(1):38-43

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