Bacterial contamination associated with mobile phones used by students at Basrah Medical College, Basrah, Iraq

Jamalludeen, Nidham M.

doi:10.33762/mjbu.2020.127020.1011

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…In contrast to this study, higher prevalences of 16.2%, 20%, 30.6%, 35%, 39%, and 54.1% for Staphylococcus aureus have been reported in Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Slovakia, Iraq, Libya, and India [9,19,24,27,32,38]. Staphylococcus aureus is a common bacterium normally found on the skin and nasal region with an estimated 25% occurrence in healthy individuals [39]. Staphylococcus aureus have been associated with diseases that range from minor skin infections to more severe diseases, such as pneumonia, bacteremia, septicemia, and meningitis [39,40].…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 83%

“…Staphylococcus aureus is a common bacterium normally found on the skin and nasal region with an estimated 25% occurrence in healthy individuals [39]. Staphylococcus aureus have been associated with diseases that range from minor skin infections to more severe diseases, such as pneumonia, bacteremia, septicemia, and meningitis [39,40]. Similar findings of 14.5% and 15.4% for Klebsiella spp.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria on the Mobile Phones and Computer Keyboards of Healthcare University Students in Ghana

Olu-Taiwo

Laryea

Mykels

et al. 2021

Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiolog

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Globally, mobile phones and computers (laptops and desktops) are indispensable part of human lives for communication, entertainment, and educational purposes. However, there are concerns about the increasing risk of bacterial contamination and antibiotic resistant trends from the surfaces of these devices. This study aims to assess bacterial contamination of mobile phones and computer keyboards and their resistant profile at the University of Ghana, Korle-Bu Campus, Accra. This was a cross-sectional study conducted from March to June 2017 with 240 swabs collected from the surfaces of mobile phones and computer keyboards used by healthcare students. Swabs were cultured on MacConkey, blood, and mannitol salt agar. Bacteria identification was performed with a standard bacteriological method. A total of 91 bacterial isolates were obtained from the devices, and they were tested against 9 commonly used antibiotics by the Kirby–Bauer disc method. The study revealed mobile phones and computer keyboards had contamination levels of 83.3% and 43.3%. Bacteria isolated included Staphylococcus epidermidis (25.4%), Klebsiella spp. (12.9%), Staphylococcus aureus (9.2%), Escherichia coli (6.7%), Pseudomonas spp. (5.4%), Enterobacter cloacae (2.1%), and Enterobacter spp. (1.7%). Overall, 91 bacterial isolates were highly resistant to ampicillin (96.7%) and tetracycline (75.8%) and moderately resistant to chloramphenicol (49.5%) with lower resistance to cefotaxime (18.7%), ceftadizime (14.2%), ciprofloxacin (25.3%), and gentamycin (24.7%). Additionally, 45.1% of isolates were multidrug resistant. Findings from this study revealed mobile phones and computer keyboards of healthcare students in the university were contaminated with pathogenic bacteria. Hence, frequent hand hygiene and disinfection of mobile phones and computer keyboard surfaces is encouraged to minimize the spread of resistant bacteria pathogens.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 83%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria on the Mobile Phones and Computer Keyboards of Healthcare University Students in Ghana

Olu-Taiwo

Laryea

Mykels

et al. 2021

Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiolog

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“…We also presented CoNS as the most abundant bacterial species isolated from MPs. Our findings are similar to previous studies conducted in healthcare university students 16 , community participants 12 , medical students 20 and university students attending in basic science courses 19 . We hypothesize that high prevalence of CoNScontaminated MPs results from the most abundant bacterial species found on human skin 27 .…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…There were previous studies focusing the microbial contamination on MPs of secondary school students 15 , healthcare and non-healthcare university students [16][17][18][19][20] . However, previous studies limited to medical, nursing and dental students and few studies have investigated in pharmacy university students.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The prevalence of bacterial contamination on mobile phones of pharmacy university students

Sriprapun¹,

Atthakorn²,

Phuakwilai³

2022

Pharm Sci Asia

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Mobile phones (MPs) become one of the most important tools in professional and social life. Bacteriacontaminated MPs were reported in healthcare and non-healthcare workers but no study has investigated among pharmacy university students. We aimed to examine the prevalence of bacterial contamination on MPs and personal behaviors of MP usage. Fifty-three participants whose MPs had been used at least 3 months were enrolled. Each MP (n=53) was swabbed and cultured on sheep blood agar. Isolated colonies were characterized by conventionally bacterial identification methods. All participants were asked to complete questionnaires about behaviors of MP usage. Bacterial contamination was found in 52 of 53 MPs (98.11%) and 44 of 52 devices (84.62%) composed of heavy growth colonies (more than 15 colonies). The most abundant colonies were coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) (42.72%), following by Bacillus spp. (27.18%), Staphylococcus aureus (20.39%), Micrococcus spp. (7.77%), Corynebacterium spp. (0.97%) and viridans streptococci (0.97%). Co-contamination with CoNS and Bacillus spp. was commonly found (28.85%). Most participants had risks for bacteria-contaminated MPs, which were visiting hospitals in past 6 months (56.60%), sharing with others (92.45%) and using in toilets (98.11%). Additionally, 44 of 53 (83.02%) participants regularly cleaned their MPs and 20 of them (45.45%) used clean clothes or tissue papers. No correlation between MP-using or cleaning behaviors and bacterial contamination was observed (p>0.05). Our findings emphasized that bacteria-contaminated MPs are commonly found among pharmacy university students. MP users should increase awareness of personal hygiene and perform effective cleaning procedures to reduce bacterial persistence and transmission.

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Gender-specific antibiotic-resistance patterns and characterization of bacterial flora of undergraduate students’ mobile phones and associated factors at a Nigerian University

Olaitan,

Rabiu,

Umara

2024

Preprint

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Background Technological development has led to the wide use of mobile phones. However, the role of the hand-held device in the possible spread of antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens considering gender variation, especially among Nigerian undergraduates is poorly understood. This study aimed to assess bacterial isolates recovered from male and female mobile phones for antibiotic resistance and determine possible factors that could facilitate their spread. Methods Forty (40) undergraduates were included in the study with gender parity. Swabs of the undergraduates' mobile phones were cultured and bacterial isolates were identified using standard microbiology methods. Antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) of the isolates was done using the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion assay and the results were interpreted by the Clinical Standards and Laboratory Institute (CLSI) guideline. Bacterial isolates (n=6/21) that resisted antibiotics belonging to ≥ 3 different classes regarded as multidrug resistant (MDR) were subjected to 16S rRNA sequencing and identified using the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) algorithm. Results The total bacterial count of male (9.2 x 106) CFU/mL and female (9.7 x 106) CFU/mL were high though comparable. Of the 25 isolates recovered, 10 and 15 were respectively from male and female mobile phones. Staphylococcus aureus (n=11) was the most occurring isolate followed by Escherichia coli (n=5), and Salmonella sp. (n=3); the rest occurred less frequently. Staphylococcus aureus obtained from male phones (n=7) is higher than in females (n=4) but the species diversity is greater in females (n=7) than in males (n=3) phones. Isolates were resistant to ampiclox and zinnacef (85.71%), erythromycin (78.57%), amoxil and augmentin (72.73%), septrim (72%), rifampicin (71.43%) while >80% were MDR. Low levels of handwashing and non-use of hand sanitizer could be linked with phone bacterial contamination. Conclusion Regular handwashing and the use of hand sanitizers should be prioritized among undergraduates to curtail the spread of difficult-to-treat bacterial infections.

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Bacterial contamination associated with mobile phones used by students at Basrah Medical College, Basrah, Iraq

Cited by 4 publications

References 12 publications

Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria on the Mobile Phones and Computer Keyboards of Healthcare University Students in Ghana

Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria on the Mobile Phones and Computer Keyboards of Healthcare University Students in Ghana

The prevalence of bacterial contamination on mobile phones of pharmacy university students

Gender-specific antibiotic-resistance patterns and characterization of bacterial flora of undergraduate students’ mobile phones and associated factors at a Nigerian University

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