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  • The role of Mobile phones as a possible pathway for pathogen movement A CROSS-SECTIONAL, MICROBIAL ANALYSIS

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    Author(s)
    Tajouri, Lotti
    Campos, Mariana
    Olsen, Matthew
    Lohning, Anna
    Jones, Peter
    Moloney, Susan
    Grimwood, Keith
    Ugail, Hassan
    Mahboub, Bassam
    Alawar, Hamad
    McKirdy, Simon
    Alghafri, Rashed
    Griffith University Author(s)
    Grimwood, Keith
    Year published
    2021
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    Abstract
    INTRODUCTION: Mobile phones are used the world over, including in healthcare settings. This study aimed to investigate the viable microbial colonisation of mobile phones used by healthcare personnel. METHODS: Swabs collected on the same day from 30 mobile phones belonging to healthcare workers from three separate paediatric wards of an Australian hospital were cultured on five types of agar plate, then colonies from each phone were pooled, extracted and sequenced by shotgun metagenomics. Questionnaires completed by staff whose phones were sampled assisted in the analysis and interpretation of results. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: ...
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    INTRODUCTION: Mobile phones are used the world over, including in healthcare settings. This study aimed to investigate the viable microbial colonisation of mobile phones used by healthcare personnel. METHODS: Swabs collected on the same day from 30 mobile phones belonging to healthcare workers from three separate paediatric wards of an Australian hospital were cultured on five types of agar plate, then colonies from each phone were pooled, extracted and sequenced by shotgun metagenomics. Questionnaires completed by staff whose phones were sampled assisted in the analysis and interpretation of results. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: All phones sampled cultured viable bacteria. Overall, 399 bacterial operational taxonomic units were identified from 30 phones, with 1432 cumulative hits. Among these were 58 recognised human pathogenic and commensal bacteria (37 Gram-negative, 21 Gram-positive). The total number of virulence factor genes detected was 347, with 1,258 cumulative hits. Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) were detected on all sampled phones and overall, 133 ARGs were detected with 520 cumulative hits. The most important classes of ARGs detected encoded resistance to beta-lactam, aminoglycoside and macrolide antibiotics and efflux pump mediated resistance mechanisms. CONCLUSION: Mobile phones carry viable bacterial pathogens and may act as fomites by contaminating the hands of their users and indirectly providing a transmission pathway for hospital-acquired infections and dissemination of antibiotic resistance. Further research is needed, but meanwhile adding touching mobile phones to the five moments of hand hygiene is a simple infection control strategy worth considering in hospital and community settings. Additionally, the implementation of practical and effective guidelines to decontaminate mobile phone devices would likely be beneficial to the hospital population and community at large.
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    Journal Title
    Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease
    DOI
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmaid.2021.102095
    Copyright Statement
    © The Author(s) 2021. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
    Note
    This publication has been entered in Griffith Research Online as an advanced online version.
    Subject
    Clinical sciences
    Health services and systems
    Public health
    Biothreats
    Fomites
    Health-care setting
    Microbes
    Next Generation Sequencing
    Publication URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10072/405148
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    • Journal articles

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