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 1258 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.

中文翻译：

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手机作为病原体移动的可能途径的作用横断面微生物分析

介绍

移动电话在世界各地使用，包括在医疗保健环境中。本研究旨在调查医护人员使用的手机的可行微生物定植情况。

方法

同一天从澳大利亚一家医院三个独立儿科病房的医护人员的 30 部手机中收集的拭子在五种类型的琼脂平板上培养，然后从每部手机中收集菌落，并通过鸟枪宏基因组学进行测序。由电话被抽样的工作人员完成的调查问卷有助于分析和解释结果。

结果和讨论

所有手机都对培养的活细菌进行了采样。总体而言，从 30 个电话中识别出 399 个细菌操作分类单元，累计命中 1432 个。其中有 58 种公认的人类致病菌和共生菌（37 种革兰氏阴性菌，21 种革兰氏阳性菌）。检测到的毒力因子基因总数为347个，累计命中1258个。在所有采样的手机上都检测到抗生素抗性基因 (ARG)，总共检测到 133 个 ARG，累计命中 520 个。检测到的最重要的 ARG 类别编码对 β-内酰胺、氨基糖苷类和大环内酯类抗生素的耐药性以及外排泵介导的耐药机制。

结论

手机携带活的细菌病原体，并可能通过污染用户的手并间接为医院获得性感染和抗生素耐药性传播提供传播途径而成为污染物。需要进一步研究，但同时将触摸手机添加到手卫生的五个时刻是一种简单的感染控制策略，值得在医院和社区环境中考虑。此外，实施实用且有效的移动电话设备净化指南可能对医院人群和整个社区有益。