Abstract:
Background: Mobile phones and hands may become contaminated with potentially dangerous bacteria, resulting in nosocomial infections. It facilitates the transmission of microorganisms, potentially bringing the problems of the hospital into the community.
Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of bacterial contamination, antimicrobial susceptibility patterns and factors associated with bacterial isolates from health professional’s mobile phones and hands working at Ambo University Referral Hospital, Oromia, Ethiopia from July to August 2022.
Method: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 95 health professionals selected by a simple random sampling technique. Data were obtained through self-administered questionnaires. A swab sample was collected from each health professional's mobile phone and hands. The detection and identification of bacteria were performed using conventional bacteriological methods. Drug susceptibility testing was performed using the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. Data were entered into epidata, edited, exported to Statistical SPSS version 27.0, and analyzed.
Results: From a total of 95 mobile phone and 95 hands of health professionals swabs, 89.5% (85/95) of mobile phones of health care professionals revealed indications of bacterial contamination, with 77.65% (66/85) being contaminated with >5 colony-forming units/cm2. Whereas, 74.7% (71/95) of healthcare professionals' hands revealed indications of bacterial contamination, with 66.2 (47/71) being contaminated with >10 colony-forming units/cm2 for different common pathogenic bacteria that cause nosocomial infection. Coagulase negative Staphylococci 42.9% and 36.6% were the predominant findings, followed by S. aureus 32.9% and 29.56% of isolated species from mobile phones and hands, respectively. Overall prevalence of multidrug resistance was 64.7%. A lack of regular mobile phone cleaning, answering calls while attending patients, a lack of infection prevention training, and a low habit of hand washing before attending patients were positively associated with mobile phone contamination. Furthermore, lack of washing hands after attending to patients and using mobile phones had a statistically significant positive association with bacterial contamination of the hands (P-value <0.05).
Conclusion: Health care professionals' mobile phones and hands were contaminated with pathogenic bacteria, which may act as a transport and a reservoir for pathogenic bacteria, increasing a risk of hospital acquired infection. Adhering to cleaning both mobile phones and hands to minimize the transmission of bacterial contamination was recommended
