Antibiotic resistance pattern of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli from mobile phones of healthcare workers in public hospitals in Ghana

INTRODUCTION: mobile phone plays an essential role in the lives of healthcare professionals in hospitals as far as communication is concerned. However, it can also serve as a source of nosocomial infections. This study aimed at determining the prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Escherichia coli isolated from mobile phones used by healthcare staff working in three public hospitals in Ghana. METHODS: in total, 220 swab samples were collected from 110 mobile phones of healthcare workers at a referral and two public tertiary hospitals in Ghana. Direct spreading of swab samples on agar plates was done. MacConkey agar and Baird Parker agar were used to isolate E. coli and S. aureus, respectively. Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute´s guidelines were followed for susceptibility testing, and S. aureus strains resistant to cefoxitin were considered to be MRSA. All E. coli and MRSA isolates were tested for their susceptibility to antibiotics using European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) 2018 guidelines with its breakpoints. Obtained qualitative data were analyzed by using Microsoft Excel. RESULTS: of 110 mobile phones, 78 (70.9%) and 4 (3.6%) were colonized with S. aureus and E. coli, respectively. From the 78 S. aureus isolates, 22 (28%) isolates were MRSA. Fifty percent (50%) (11/22) of the MRSA isolates were multi-drug resistant, of which one isolate was resistant to all antibiotics tested. E. coli isolates had 100 resistances to both ceftriaxone and ceftazidime. CONCLUSION: mobile phones used by healthcare workers in hospitals frequently harbor E. coli, S. aureus, MRSA and may be sources of hospital-associated infections.