Mobile phones: Reservoirs for the transmission of nosocomial pathogens

Pal, Sarika; Juyal, Deepak; Adekhandi, Shamanth; Sharma, Munesh; Prakash, Rajat; Sharma, Neelam; Rana, Amit Kumar; Parihar, Ashwin Singh

doi:10.4103/2277-9175.161553

Cited by 69 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…agreed with our contamination rate by showing that it was greater among hospital staff than among students. 6 It is worth mentioning that in our study, although 37 students (24.7%) did enter the hospital environment on a regular basis, they did not see patients by themselves because they were only undertaking extracurricular activities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 56%

“…The findings from a previous study corroborate this idea, since that study showed that the microbiota of the hands is the main source of contamination of cell phones. 6 Hand sanitizer was also the most common product used for cell phone cleansing among the participants (104 out of 136; 76.4%) (data not shown).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…In addition, several applications ("apps") with clinical utility have been developed for, but not limited to, drug dosage calculations, request codes for laboratory tests and access to scientific publications. 3,5,6 Thus, it is now impossible to dissociate the use of cell phones from healthcare assistance, especially in hospital settings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Detection of potentially pathogenic bacteria on cell phones of hospital and university-based populations in Curitiba, southern Brazil. A cross-sectional study

Jansen

Balbinot

Daur³

et al. 2019

Sao Paulo Med. J.

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BACKGROUND: Cell phones have become indispensable for professional activities, including healthcare. Thus, they are possible sources of bacterial contamination. There is a scarcity of data in the literature regarding identification of risk factors for contamination of cell phones with pathogenic bacteria. OBJECTIVE: To compare the prevalence rates of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and/or Enterobacteriaceae on cell phones belonging to hospital healthcare staff and university students in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil, and to identify variables associated with such contamination. DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional study conducted in a public university's referral hospital and lecture buildings in 2017. METHODS: We sampled the surface of cell phones using the dipslide method, with Baird-Parker agar and Escherichia coli-coliform chromogenic (ECC) agar. We assessed the population's sociodemographic, behavioral and hygiene characteristics through interviews. Possible presence of S. aureus colonies was confirmed using agglutination tests, with evaluation of methicillin sensitivity. Colonies in ECC medium were counted. Stepwise logistic regression (forward P < 0.15) was performed to identify characteristics associated with bacterial contamination. RESULTS: The prevalence rates of S. aureus, MRSA and Enterobacteriaceae were, respectively, 32%, 4% and 3%. No difference was found between the hospital and university-based populations (P > 0.05). The only variable associated with bacterial contamination was the use of cloth/velvet/leather phone cases (odds ratio: 2.92; 95% confidence interval: 1.08-7.91). CONCLUSIONS: Potentially pathogenic bacteria were prevalent on the cell phones of this hospital and university population. Use of phone cases made of cloth-like material should be discouraged, especially in hospital settings.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 56%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Detection of potentially pathogenic bacteria on cell phones of hospital and university-based populations in Curitiba, southern Brazil. A cross-sectional study

Jansen

Balbinot

Daur³

et al. 2019

Sao Paulo Med. J.

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“…Nosocomial infections continue to pose significant risk of increased mortality and morbidity among the patients and the various etiological agents responsible for such infections vary from hospital to hospital and also in different geographical regions [32]. Isolation of bacterial agents from electronic devices such as handheld computers and personal digital assistants has shown these devices to be possible modes of transmission of nosocomial pathogens [33].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Epidemiology of oxacillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus from cell phones of health-care workers in Ekiti State

2016

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The use of mobile phones in the clinical environment by health-care workers has become widespread. A swab of mobile phones of health-care personnel of several hospitals in Ekiti State were examined to evaluate the prevalence of Oxacillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (ORSA), the resistance of ORSA to other commonly used antibiotics as well as the multiple resistant patterns of the recovered isolates. A total of 106 samples were screened yielding 100 S. aureus isolates. The antibiotics sensitivity profile to nine commonly used antibiotics revealed high levels of resistance amongst the isolates ranging from 47% resistance to Chloramphenicol to 100% resistance exhibited to cloxacillin with 55% of the isolates showed resistance to oxacillin while all isolates exhibited multiple resistance. Also, all 55 ORSA exhibited 100% resistance to erythromycin and cloxacillin but interestingly were very sensitive (99.9%) to gentamicin. The high recovery rate of bacteria from mobile phones revealed that cell phones may have notable roles in the transmission of multidrug resistant nosocomial pathogens, increasing the risk of cross-contamination posed to immunosuppressed patients by the heath care workers attending to them.

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“…una adecuada higiene, podría actuar como un reservorio para la transmisión de patógenos, encontrando datos muy variables en cuanto a los microorganismos detectados (4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9) .…”

Section: Mensajes Claveunclassified

Presencia de microorganismos en teléfonos móviles del personal de cuidados intensivos de un hospital de España

Santana-Padilla¹,

Santana-Cabrera²,

Dorta-Hung³

et al. 2019

Rev Peru Med Exp Salud Publica

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Con el objetivo de identificar la presencia de microorganismos en los teléfonos móviles del personal de la unidad de cuidados intensivos (UCI) de un hospital en España se realizó un estudio transversal descriptivo entre los profesionales sanitarios y no sanitarios que tuvieran teléfonos móviles durante su jornada laboral. La recogida de muestras se llevó a cabo mediante hisopo y siembra en placa de cultivo con análisis e identificación de los microorganismos. Se analizaron 111 teléfonos móviles, de los cuales 56 estaban contaminados siendo 41,5% y 41,1% para los que pertenecían a las enfermeras y los médicos respectivamente y 60,6% para la encontrada en los auxiliares de enfermería, destaca el crecimiento de Pseudomonas aeruginosa (12,5%), Staphylococus aureus meticilin-resistente (10,9%), y Stenotrophomonas maltophila (4,7%). En conclusión, los teléfonos móviles presentaron presencia de microorganismos de relevancia clínica. La presencia de estas bacterias y hongos deben alertarnos sobre la posibilidad de que sirvan de reservorio para la transmisión al paciente crítico.

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Mobile phones: Reservoirs for the transmission of nosocomial pathogens

Cited by 69 publications

References 13 publications

Detection of potentially pathogenic bacteria on cell phones of hospital and university-based populations in Curitiba, southern Brazil. A cross-sectional study

Detection of potentially pathogenic bacteria on cell phones of hospital and university-based populations in Curitiba, southern Brazil. A cross-sectional study

Epidemiology of oxacillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus from cell phones of health-care workers in Ekiti State

Presencia de microorganismos en teléfonos móviles del personal de cuidados intensivos de un hospital de España

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