creators_name: Chawla, K creators_name: Mukhopadhayay, C creators_name: Gurung, B creators_name: Bhate, P creators_name: Bairy, I creators_id: arunkiranchawla@yahoo.com editors_name: Kakkilaya, Srinivas editors_id: Kakkilaya BS type: journale datestamp: 2009-07-02 01:45:20 lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:57:23 metadata_visibility: show title: Bacterial ‘Cell’ Phones: Do cell phones carry potential pathogens? ispublished: pub subjects: OJHAS full_text_status: public keywords: Cell phones, Health care workers, Pathogen carriers abstract: Cell phones are important companions for professionals especially health care workers (HCWs) for better communication in hospital. The present study compared the nature of the growth of potentially pathogenic bacterial flora on cell phones in hospital and community. 75% cell phones from both the categories grew at least one potentially pathogenic organism. Cell phones from HCWs grew significantly more potential pathogens like MRSA (20%), Acinetobacter species (5%), Pseudomonas species (2.5%) as compared to the non HCWs. 97.5% HCWs use their cell phone in the hospital, 57.5% never cleaned their cell phone and 20% admitted that they did not wash their hands before or after attending patients, although majority (77.5%) knows that cell phones can have harmful colonization and act as vector for nosocomial infections. It is recommended, therefore, that cell phones in the hospital should be regularly decontaminated. Moreover, utmost emphasis needs to be paid to hand washing practices among HCWs. date: 2009-05-05 date_type: published publication: Online Journal of Health and Allied Sciences volume: 8 number: 1 publisher: Dr. BS Kakkilaya refereed: TRUE referencetext: 1.Brady RRW, Wasson A, Stirling I, McAllister C, Damani NN. Is your phone bugged? The incidence of bacteria known to cause nosocomial infection on healthcare workers’ mobile phones. J Hosp Infect. 2006;62:123-5. 2.Rafferty KM, Pancoast SJ. Bacteriological sampling of telephones and other hospital staff hand-contact objects. J Infect control. 1984;5(11):533-5. 3.Brady RR, Fraser SF, Dunlop MG, Paterson-Brown S, Gibb AP. Bacterial contamination of mobile communication devices in the operative environment J Hosp Infect. 2007;66:397-8. 4.Boyce JM, Opal SM, Chow JW, et al. Outbreak of multidrug-resistant Enterococcus faecium with transferable vanB class vancomycin resistance. J Clin Microbiol. 1994;32:1148–53. 5.Panhotra BR, Saxena AK, Al-Mulhim AS. Contamination of patients' files in intensive care units: an indication of strict handwashing after entering case notes. Am J Infect Control. 2005;33(7):398-401. 6.Sorin M, Segal-Maurer S, Mariano N, et al. Nosocomial transmission of imipenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa following bronchoscopy associated with improper connection to the Steris System 1 processor. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2001;22:409–13. 7.Datz C, Jungwirth A, Dusch H, et al. What’s on a doctors’ ball point pens? Lancet. 1997;350:1824. 8.Wilker MA, Cockerill FR, Craig WA. Performance standards for anti-microbial susceptibility testing: Clinical and laboratory standards institute. 15th informal supplement. 2005. M 100-SI5. 25(1) 9.Wayne PA. Khivsara A, Sushma TV, Dhanashree B. Typing of Staphylococcus aureus from mobile phones and clinical samples. Current science. 2006;90(7):910-12 10.Cathleen M, Braddy MD, Janis E, Blair MD. Colonization of personal digital assistants used in a health care setting. American J Infect Control. 2005;33:230-2. 11.Dar JA, Thoker MA, Khan JA et al. Molecular epidemiology of clinical and carrier strains of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in the hospital settings of north India. Ann Clin Microbiol Antimicrob. 2006;5:22. 12.Singh D, Kaur H, Gardner WG, Treen LB. Bacterial contamination of hospital pagers. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2002; 23(5):274-6. 13.Pittet D, Boyce JM. Hand hygiene and patient care: Pursuing the Semmelweis legacy. Lancet Infect Dis. 2001;9–20. citation: Chawla, K and Mukhopadhayay, C and Gurung, B and Bhate, P and Bairy, I (2009) Bacterial ‘Cell’ Phones: Do cell phones carry potential pathogens? [Journal (On-line/Unpaginated)] document_url: http://cogprints.org/6566/1/2009-1-8.pdf