Bacterial Contamination of Mobile Phones Healthcare Versus Non-Healthcare Workers at Mansoura City, Egypt

Abstract

The objective of this study was to identify the bacteria harbored by mobile phones of healthcare workers and non-healthcare workers from Mansoura City, Dakahlia Governorate and to determine their antibiotic resistance patterns. A total of 300 mobile phone samples, 150 samples from different Mansoura City Hospitals as healthcare workers (HCWs) and 150 samples from Mansoura University as non-healthcare workers (non-HCWs) used for isolation of bacteria on enriched, differential and selective media. Results of HCWs samples tested were 31(20.6%) samples no growth and 119(79.3%) showed bacterial contamination. Gram-positive isolates were 62(52.1%) samples Staphylococcus species, 58(48.7%) Staph.aureus, 71(59.6%) Bacillus species and 8(6.7%) were Micrococcus species. Also, 37(31.0%) mobile phones had only one genus and 82(68.9%) with two or more different genera. On the other hand 13(10.9%) isolates of Gram-negative bacilli were recorded. The results of non-HCWs samples indicated that 8(5.3%) samples showed no growth and 142(94.6%) samples were contaminated with bacteria. Gram-positive isolates were 86(60.6%) samples Staphylococcus species, 85(59.9%) Staph.aureus, 87(61.3%) Bacillus species and 24(16.9%) were Micrococcus species. Also, 20(14.1%) mobile phones had only one genus and 122(85.9%) with two or more different genera. On the other hand, 29(20.4%) isolates of Gram-negative bacilli were obtained and confirmed the results by BD PHOENIX Device. The Gram-negative bacterial isolates were resistant to Amikacin and Ampicillin, and sensitive to Ciprofloxacin, Trimethoprim sulfamethoxazole and Gentamicin. Also, some of isolates were resistant to Kanamycin, Nalidixic acid; Chloramphenicol and Tetracycline except Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii which are resistant to all antibiotics except Pseudomonas aeruginosa which was sensitive to Ciprofloxacin.Staphylococcus aureus of HCWs and non-HCWs 143(54.78%) were examined for nine antibiotics, the results were 99.30% were resistant to Oxacillin and Methicillin also, 89.5% were resistant to Ampicillin while 96.5% were sensitive to Ciprofloxacin, Kanamycin, and 98.6% to Trimethoprim sulfamethoxazole, Cefoxthin and Vancomycin. Also, 48(33.5%) Staph.aureus were resistant to penicillin-G. To reduce or prevent the contamination of the hands and mobile phones, healthcare workers should apply the standard hygienic precautions after using phones.

Bacterial contamination of healthcare workers’ mobile phones in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…The current meta-analysis used 2887 mobile phones from healthcare professionals to estimate the pooled proportion of bacterial contamination. In terms of sub-regional distribution, nine studies were from Eastern Africa [ 21 , 23 , 24 , 41 – 45 , 57 ], four studies were from Western [ 20 , 50 , 51 , 54 ], eight studies were from Northern [ 22 , 46 – 49 , 53 , 56 , 59 ], two studies from Southern [ 55 , 60 ], and three studies from central African countries [ 52 , 58 , 61 ]. The overall bacterial contamination rate of mobile phones reported by all studies included in this review ranges from 10.3% to 99.9% in Africa (Table 1 ).…”

“…2021 [ 23 ] Ethiopia Citrobacter and E. coli are sensitive to Chloramphenicol and Cotrimoxazole About 79.2% of the ESBL- producing isolates showed multidrug resistance K. oxytoca, Salmonella spp., P. vulgaris , and P.mirabilis showed 100% multidrug resistance Mohamedin et al . 2019 [ 46 ] Egypt About 100% of S. aureus was sensitive to Kanamycin and Trimethoprim–sulphamethoxazole Around 98.2% of S.aureus was resistant to Methicillin, Oxacillin, and Ampicillin antibiotics Mohamadou et al . 2021 [ 52 ] Cameroon Ceftazidim, Norfloxacin, Imipeneme, Netilmicin and Azthreonam) were efficient against the P. aeruginosas The prevalence of MDR (≥ 3 antibiotic classes) of identified bacteria (S. aureus and Gram-negative bacteria) was 71.4% Daoudi et al .…”

Bacterial contamination of Healthcare workers’ mobile phones in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Following the exclusion of 844 articles, a total of 87 full-text papers were verified for eligibility using the pre-determined criteria, with 64 articles being excluded. Finally, 23 articles [21][22][23][24][25][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59] that satisfied the criteria were included in the meta-analysis (Fig. 1).…”

“…The current meta-analysis used 2,623 mobile phones from healthcare professionals to estimate the pooled proportion of bacterial contamination. In terms of sub-regional distribution, nine studies were from Eastern Africa [22,24,25,42,[44][45][46]58], four studies from Western [21,51,52,55], seven studies from Northern [23,[47][48][49][50]54, 57], one study from Southern [56], and two studies from middle African countries [53,59] (Table 1).…”