MOBILE PHONE CAN TRANSMIT MORE THAN JUST A CALL- A MODE OF NOSOCOMIAL TRANSMISSION

Abstract

Background: Nosocomial infections continue to pose increased mortality and morbidity in patients. The mobile phone and hands of health professionals may harbor many harmful pathogens which can serve as reservoir of infections. Objective: In this study, we investigated the rate of microbial contamination of mobile phones and hands of health professionals in our tertiary care hospital. Methods: In this study we took 320 samples from different wards, ICUs and OT staff. The samples were taken from 2 groups i.e. doctors and nursing staff. Swabs were taken from dominant hands and mobile phones. Culture and antibiotic susceptibility was carried out as per standard microbiological procedures. Results: From 160 samples of mobile phones and hands each, 70.62% and 64.37% of swabs demonstrated evidence of microbial contamination with different type of organisms, respectively. Most commonly found organisms were coagulase negative staphylococci (46.7%). Established nosocomial pathogens like Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp. & enterococci, were isolated from 56.6% of mobile and 42.7% of hand samples. Methicillin resistance was seen in 25.5% of staphylococcal isolates. The colonization of isolates in hands was almost similar to that in mobile phones.