Mobile phones: emerging threat for infection control

Srikanth, Padma; Rajaram, Ezhilarasan; Sudharsanam, Suchithra; Lakshmanan, Anandhi; Mariappan, Umamageswari Sivamurugan Sangappan; Jagannathan, K.

doi:10.1177/1757177410364866

Cited by 22 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…No other study was found that incorporates repeated longitudinal sampling of mobile devices in its design, despite single sampling having been identified as a study limitation, as the transient or resident status of bacteria cannot be established with once only sampling (Srikanth et al, 2010).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The cross-contamination potential of mobile telephones

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Humphreys

et al. 2012

Journal of Research in Nursing

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The use of mobile devices for professional, business, educational, personal and social purposes has accelerated exponentially over the last decade. Staff working in health care organisations, and patients and visitors using healthcare settings, understandably want to use mobile technology.Concerns have been raised about safety in terms of interference with equipment, threats to privacy and dignity, yet less policy attention has been paid to infection risks.Healthcare professional students were supplied with smartphones as part of a larger educational project. Devices collected from a sub-sample of students working in operating theatre contexts were sampled to estimate the cross contamination potential of the technology. A longitudinal multiple measures design was used. Under laboratory conditions samples were taken from surfaces using swabbing techniques followed by contact plating. The devices were subsequently cleaned with 70% isopropyl alcohol and returned to the students.All devices demonstrated microbial contamination and over three quarters (86%) polymicrobial contamination. The technique and sites used to sample for microbial contamination influenced the levels of contamination identified. Swabbing alone was less likely to isolate polymicrobial contamination than contact plating, and some microorganisms were isolated only by contact plates and not by swabbing of the same area.The findings from this study demonstrate further research is urgently needed to inform evidencebased infection control policy on the use of personal equipment such as mobile devices in the healthcare settings where contamination may have adverse effects on patients, staff and visitors..

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The cross-contamination potential of mobile telephones

White

Topping

Humphreys

et al. 2012

Journal of Research in Nursing

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“…More importantly, MPs can lead to bacterial crosscontamination and can be a cause of nosocomial infections, contributing to the spread of resistant hospital infections within the cycle of operating rooms, ICUs (adult and pediatric), wards, and burn units, which are at high risk of infection [12,14,16] S. aureus and CoNS are the most common Grampositive agents isolated from the surface of MPs [13,14,21,29,32]. S. aureus, which is a coagulasepositive pathogen, can cause infections of the skin and other organs in immune-competent patients, whereas CoNS is involved in the infectious processes in immune-compromised patients or patients using catheters [49][50].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, P. aeruginosa, K. pneumoniae, E. coli, and MRSA were also isolated in many studies [2,12,18,25,29,[33][34][35]. Many pathogens, particularly Acinetobacter spp.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are healthcare workers’ mobile phones a potential source of nosocomial infections? Review of the literature

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Dilek

Esen

et al. 2015

J Infect Dev Ctries

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Mobile communication devices help accelerate in-hospital flow of medical information, information sharing and querying, and contribute to communications in the event of emergencies through their application and access to wireless media technology. Healthcare-associated infections remain a leading and high-cost problem of global health systems despite improvements in modern therapies. The objective of this article was to review different studies on the relationship between mobile phones (MPs) and bacterial crosscontamination and report common findings. Thirty-nine studies published between 2005 and 2013 were reviewed. Of these, 19 (48.7%) identified coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS), and 26 (66.7%) identified Staphylococcus aureus; frequency of growth varied. The use of MPs by healthcare workers increases the risk of repetitive cyclic contamination between the hands and face (e.g., nose, ears, and lips), and differences in personal hygiene and behaviors can further contribute to the risks. MPs are rarely cleaned after handling. They may transmit microorganisms, including multiple resistant strains, after contact with patients, and can be a source of bacterial cross-contamination. To prevent bacterial contamination of MPs, hand-washing guidelines must be followed and technical standards for prevention strategies should be developed.Key words: healthcare workers; mobile phones; bacteria; nosocomial infection; contamination. J Infect Dev Ctries IntroductionThe rapid progress of modern technology has contributed not only to medical fields, but also to the development of technologies for individual use. This technology includes personal computers, pagers, mobile hand-held devices (MHDs) (wireless tablets such as iPad, droids, etc.) and mobile phones (MPs), in which improvements have been made at a staggering speed over the past 20 years [1][2][3]. MPs and MHDs help accelerate in-hospital flow of medical information and information sharing and querying, and contribute to communications in the event of emergencies through their application and access to wireless media technology [1,2]. As technology in this area has evolved, MHDs that provide laboratory and imaging results, patient data, and photographic images are being used by physicians during bedside rounds to engage clinicians, residents, and students. Healthcare workers (HCWs) access pharmaceutical knowledge and literature by MPs and MHDs, which facilitates learning and clinical performance [4,5]. It is possible,

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“…This correlates with the results of Radhika et.al (33.3%) [15] and varies with the results of Girma Mulisa Misgana et al where it was 56% [16] . In our study, the prevalence of nonpathogenic bacterial isolates in descending order was [5,11]. Aspergillus niger was isolated in another study [6].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…During every usage of phones, it comes in contact with the contaminated parts of the body like hands, nose, ear and mouth. Mobile phones act as a perfect habitat for microbes to breed, especially in high temperatures and humid conditions [5]. If the doctor uses a contaminated mobile phone and then examines other patients, the infection is transferred to the new patient.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%