Mobile phones: Reservoirs for the transmission of nosocomial pathogens

Authors

1 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Government Medical Sciences and Research Institute, Srinagar Garhwal, Uttarakhand, India

2 Department of Medical Microbiology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India

3 Microbial Containment Complex, Maximum Containment laboratory: BSL-IV, Pashan, National Institute of Virology, Pune, Maharashtra, India

Abstract

Background: Global burden of hospital-associated infection (HAI) is on the rise and contributes significantly to morbidity and mortality of the patients. Mobile phones are indispensible part of communication among doctors and other health care workers (HCWs) in hospitals. Hands of HCWs play an important role in transmission of HAI and mobile phones which are seldom cleaned and often touched during or after the examination of patients without hand washing can act as a reservoir for transmission of potent pathogens. This study aimed to investigate the rate of bacterial contamination of mobile phones among HCWs in our tertiary care hospital and to compare it with personal mobile phones of non-HCWs (control group).
Materials and Methods: The mobile phones and dominant hands of 386 participants were sampled from four different groups, hospital doctors and staff (132), college faculty and staff (54), medical students (100) and control group (100). Informed consent and questionnaire was duly signed by all the participants. Samples were processed according to standard guidelines.
Results: 316 mobile phones (81.8%) and 309 hand swab samples (80%) showed growth of bacterial pathogens. The most predominant isolates were Coagulase-negative StaphylococcusStaphylococcus aureusAcinetobacter species, Escherichia coliKlebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas species and Enterococcus species.
Conclusion: Hundred percent contamination was found in mobile phones and hands of HCWs indicating mobile phones can be the potential source of nosocomial pathogens. Our study results suggest that use of mobile phones in health care setup should be restricted only for emergency calls. Strict adherence to infection control policies such as proper hand hygiene practices should be followed.

Keywords

1.
Sowah LN. The future of the mobile phone Internet: How do we tap into its fullest benefits? Technology Blogs 2008;1-2.  Back to cited text no. 1
    
2.
Telecom regulatory authority India. Annual report 2009-2010. Available from: http://www.trai.gov.in/annualreport/AnnualReport_09_10 English.pdf. [Last accessed on 2012 June 27].  Back to cited text no. 2
    
3.
Brady RR, Wasson A, Stirling I, McAllister C, Damani NN. Is your phone bugged? The incidence of bacteria known to cause nosocomial infection in healthcare workers' mobile phones. J Hosp Infect 2006;62:123-5.  Back to cited text no. 3
    
4.
Hughes JM. Study on the efficacy of nosocomial infection control (SENIC Project): Results and implications for the future. Chemotherapy 1988;34:553-61.  Back to cited text no. 4
    
5.
Datta P, Rani H, Chander J, Gupta V. Bacterial contamination of mobile phones of health care workers. Indian J Med Microbiol 2009;27:279-81.  Back to cited text no. 5
[PUBMED]  Medknow Journal  
6.
Chawla K, Mukhopadhayay C, Gurung B, Bhate P, Bairy I. Bacterial 'cell' Phones: Do cell phones carry potential pathogens? Online J Health Allied Scs 2009;8:8.  Back to cited text no. 6
    
7.
Akinyemi KO, Atapu AD, Adetona OO, Coker AO. The potential role of mobile phones in the spread of bacterial infections. J Infect Dev Ctries 2009;3:628-32.  Back to cited text no. 7
    
8.
Ulger F, Esen S, Dilek A, Yanik K, Gunaydin M, Leblebicioglu H. Are we aware how contaminated our mobile phones with nosocomial pathogens? Ann Clin Microbiol Antimicrob 2009;8:7.  Back to cited text no. 8
    
9.
Bhat SS, Hegde SK, Salian S. Potential of mobile phones to serve as a reservoir in spread of nosocomial pathogens. Online J Health Allied Scs 2011;10:14.  Back to cited text no. 9
    
10.
Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute. Performance Standards for Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing. Vol. 1, M2-A9. Pennsylvania, USA: Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute; 2007. p.  Back to cited text no. 10
    
11.
Koneman EW, Allen SD, Janda WM, Winn WC, Procop GW, Schreckenberger PC, et al. Characteristics for presumptive identification of bacteria. In: Color Atlas and Textbook of Diagnostic Microbiology. 6 th ed. Philadelphia: JB Lippincott Co.; 2006. p. 212-301.  Back to cited text no. 11
    
12.
Fleming K, Randle J. Toys-friend or foe? A study of infection risk in a paediatric intensive care unit. Paediatr Nurs 2006;18:14-8.  Back to cited text no. 12
    
13.
Goel M, Goel A. Beware! Your phone is 'bugged' mobile phones of dental professionals a potential source of bacterial contamination-A bacteriological study. Indian J Dent Sci 2009;1:42-7.  Back to cited text no. 13
    
14.
Jayalakshmi J, Appalaraju B, Usha S. Cellphones as reservoirs of nosocomial pathogens. J Assoc Physicians India 2008;56:388-9.  Back to cited text no. 14
    
15.
Famurewa O, David OM. Cell phones: A medium of transmission of bacterial pathogens. World Rural Observations 2009;1:69-72.  Back to cited text no. 15
    
16.
Khivsara A, Sushma TV, Dhanashree B. Typing of staphylococcus aureus from mobile phones and clinical samples. Curr Sci 2006;90:910-12.  Back to cited text no. 16
    
17.
Srikanth P, Rajaram E, Sudharsanam S, Lakshmanan A, Umamaheswari SS, Kalyani J. The mobile phone in a tropical setting-emerging threat for infection control. Sri Ramachandra Journal of Medicine 2009;2:18-20.  Back to cited text no. 17
    
18.
Omololu-Aso J, Kolawole DO, Omololu-Aso OO, Ajisebutu SO. Antibiotics sensitivity pattern of staphylococcus aureus from fomites in the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex Nigeria. Int J Med Med Sci 2011;3:32-6.  Back to cited text no. 18
    
19.
Braddy CM, Blair JE. Colonization of personal digital assistants used in a health care setting. Am J Infect Control 2005;33:230-2.  Back to cited text no. 19
    
20.
Borer A, Gilad J, Smolyakov R, Eskira S, Peled N, Porat N, et al. Cell phones and acinetobacter transmission. Emerg Infect Dis 2005;11:1160-1.  Back to cited text no. 20
    
21.
Borer A, Gilad J. Cellphone and acinetobacter transmission. Emerging Infect Dis 2005;7:1-3.  Back to cited text no. 21
    
22.
Isaacs D, Daley A, Dalton D, Hardiman R, Nallusamy R. Swabbing computers in search of nosocomial bacteria. Pediatr Infect Dis J 1998;17:533.  Back to cited text no. 22
    
23.
Wendt C, Dietze B, Dietz E, Rüden H. Survival of Acinetobacter baumannii on dry surfaces. J Clin Microbiol 1997;35:1394-7.  Back to cited text no. 23
    
24.
Rusin P, Maxwell S, Gerba C. Comparative surface-to-hand and fingertip-to-mouth transfer efficiency of gram-positive bacteria, gram-negative bacteria, and phage. J Appl Microbiol 2002;93:585-92.  Back to cited text no. 24
    
25.
Todar M. Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Web Review of Todar's Online Textbook of Bacteriology "The Good, the Bad, and the Deadly". Science Magazine 2004;304:1-12.  Back to cited text no. 25
    
26.
Yavankar SP, Pardesi KR, Chopade BA. Species distribution and physiological characterization of acinetobacter genospecies from healthy human skin of tribal population in India. Indian J Med Microbiol 2007;25:336-45.  Back to cited text no. 26
[PUBMED]  Medknow Journal  
27.
Tamblekar DH, Gulhane PB, Dahikar SG, Dudhane MN. Nosocomial hazards of doctor's mobile phones in hospitals. J Med Sci 2008;8:73-6.  Back to cited text no. 27
    
28.
Arora U, Devi P, Chadha A, Malhotra S. Cellphones a modern stayhouse for bacterial pathogens. JK Science 2009;11:127-9.  Back to cited text no. 28
    
29.
Infection Control Nurses Association. Hands decontamination guidelines, 2 nd ed, ICNA; 2002.  Back to cited text no. 29
    
30.
Jeske HC, Tiefenthaler W, Hohlrieder M, Hinterberger G, Benzer A. Bacterial contamination of anaesthetists' hands by personal mobile phone and fixed phone use in the operating theatre. Anaesthesia 2007;62:904-6.  Back to cited text no. 30