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Bacterial contamination of mobile phones of healthcare workers at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia
BACKGROUND: Mobile telephones (henceforth ‘phones’) have become an essential part of everyday life in both healthcare and community settings. However, the widespread use of mobile phones in healthcare facilities is of concern because they can act as vehicles for transmitting pathogenic bacteria. Thi...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Elsevier
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8336300/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34368743 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.infpip.2021.100126 |
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author | Mushabati, N.A. Samutela, M.T. Yamba, K. Ngulube, J. Nakazwe, R. Nkhoma, P. Kalonda, A. |
author_facet | Mushabati, N.A. Samutela, M.T. Yamba, K. Ngulube, J. Nakazwe, R. Nkhoma, P. Kalonda, A. |
author_sort | Mushabati, N.A. |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Mobile telephones (henceforth ‘phones’) have become an essential part of everyday life in both healthcare and community settings. However, the widespread use of mobile phones in healthcare facilities is of concern because they can act as vehicles for transmitting pathogenic bacteria. This study aimed to investigate the bacterial contamination of mobile phones of healthcare workers (HCWs) at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia. METHODS: This cross-sectional study, from May to July 2019, involved 117 HCWs. A self-administered questionnaire was used to gather sociodemographic and phone usage data. The mobile phones of HCWs were swabbed for culture and antimicrobial susceptibility testing. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of mobile phone contamination was 79%. The predominant isolates were coagulase-negative staphylococci (50%), Staphylococcus aureus (24.5%) and Bacillus spp. (14.3%). Other isolates were Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter spp., Pseudomonas spp., Klebsiella sp. and Proteus sp. Most isolates were susceptible to tetracycline, gentamicin and cotrimoxazole, while all Gram-positive organisms were resistant to penicillin. Meticillin resistance was detected in 25% and 48% of S. aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci isolates, respectively. No significant association was found between mobile phone contamination and age group, gender, profession, mobile phone disinfection or work area. CONCLUSION: Mobile phones of HCWs carry potentially pathogenic bacteria and can be a source of healthcare-associated infections in healthcare settings. Hence, regulations regarding the use of mobile phones need to be developed, especially in critical areas, to reduce the dissemination of pathogenic bacteria from hands to phones and, potentially, to patients. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8336300 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | Elsevier |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-83363002021-08-05 Bacterial contamination of mobile phones of healthcare workers at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia Mushabati, N.A. Samutela, M.T. Yamba, K. Ngulube, J. Nakazwe, R. Nkhoma, P. Kalonda, A. Infect Prev Pract Original Research Article BACKGROUND: Mobile telephones (henceforth ‘phones’) have become an essential part of everyday life in both healthcare and community settings. However, the widespread use of mobile phones in healthcare facilities is of concern because they can act as vehicles for transmitting pathogenic bacteria. This study aimed to investigate the bacterial contamination of mobile phones of healthcare workers (HCWs) at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia. METHODS: This cross-sectional study, from May to July 2019, involved 117 HCWs. A self-administered questionnaire was used to gather sociodemographic and phone usage data. The mobile phones of HCWs were swabbed for culture and antimicrobial susceptibility testing. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of mobile phone contamination was 79%. The predominant isolates were coagulase-negative staphylococci (50%), Staphylococcus aureus (24.5%) and Bacillus spp. (14.3%). Other isolates were Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter spp., Pseudomonas spp., Klebsiella sp. and Proteus sp. Most isolates were susceptible to tetracycline, gentamicin and cotrimoxazole, while all Gram-positive organisms were resistant to penicillin. Meticillin resistance was detected in 25% and 48% of S. aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci isolates, respectively. No significant association was found between mobile phone contamination and age group, gender, profession, mobile phone disinfection or work area. CONCLUSION: Mobile phones of HCWs carry potentially pathogenic bacteria and can be a source of healthcare-associated infections in healthcare settings. Hence, regulations regarding the use of mobile phones need to be developed, especially in critical areas, to reduce the dissemination of pathogenic bacteria from hands to phones and, potentially, to patients. Elsevier 2021-02-15 /pmc/articles/PMC8336300/ /pubmed/34368743 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.infpip.2021.100126 Text en © 2021 The Authors https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Original Research Article Mushabati, N.A. Samutela, M.T. Yamba, K. Ngulube, J. Nakazwe, R. Nkhoma, P. Kalonda, A. Bacterial contamination of mobile phones of healthcare workers at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia |
title | Bacterial contamination of mobile phones of healthcare workers at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia |
title_full | Bacterial contamination of mobile phones of healthcare workers at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia |
title_fullStr | Bacterial contamination of mobile phones of healthcare workers at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia |
title_full_unstemmed | Bacterial contamination of mobile phones of healthcare workers at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia |
title_short | Bacterial contamination of mobile phones of healthcare workers at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia |
title_sort | bacterial contamination of mobile phones of healthcare workers at the university teaching hospital, lusaka, zambia |
topic | Original Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8336300/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34368743 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.infpip.2021.100126 |
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