Mobile phone bacterial contaminations, associated factors and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of bacteria isolates from health professionals' working in public health facilities of West Guji zone, Southern Ethiopia.

Abstract

Background: Mobile device use in healthcare facilities is a concern because they can act as vehicles to transmit pathogenic bacteria that can cause infections. Thus, nosocomial infections are a significant health problem that affects more than a quarter of patients worldwide, particularly in developing countries. On the other hand, the increasing pattern of antimicrobial resistance of bacteria poses a major health concern.

Objective: This study aimed to determine the prevalence, antimicrobial susceptibility patterns and associated factors of bacteria isolates among mobile phone of health professionals in public health facilities in the West Guji zone, Southern Ethiopia.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on 240 mobile phones belonging to health professionals from May to June 2024. The study population was selected using a simple random sampling technique, and data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. The samples were collected and tested using microbiological analysis to isolate and identify bacteria. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests were done by the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method on Mueller-Hinton agar. Data were entered into Epi-Data V.3.1 and exported to SPSS V.25 for bivariate and multivariate analyses. The factors with a p value <0.05 were considered statistically significant.

Results: The overall prevalence of bacterial contamination on mobile phones was 102 (42.5%) (95 CI 36.3% to 48.8%). The bacteria isolates were Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CONS) 68 (65.4%), Bacillus spp 21 (20.2%) and S. aureus 15 (14.4%). The study revealed that being medical laboratory professionals (AOR=6.52, CI 95%, 1.33 to 31.93), mobile phones cleaned after every use and once daily were 94% and 98% less likely to be contaminated, and lack of handwashing practice before attending to the patients (AOR=12.91, CI 95%, 2.95 to 56.44) were factors statistically significantly associated with mobile phone contamination. Isolated CONS and S. aureus showed sensitivity to higher Sulphamethoxazole and Trimethoprim, while all Bacillus spp isolates were sensitive to Ciprofloxacin and Gentamicin.

Conclusion: This study shows that mobile phones of health professionals were contaminated with various bacteria species. The highest resistance isolates were shown against tetracycline. We recommend promoting regular cleaning of mobile phones and proper hand washing practices when attending to patients.