Isolation of Some Pathogenic Bacteria and Fungi From Student′s Mobile Phones (Part I) Mohammed Taghreed Khudhur1, Jwad Mohammed Abed2, Kamal Ola2, Abbas Ali Hafedh3,*, Alabbas Ali Shallal4 1Institute of Medical Technology, Al-Mansour, Baghdad, Iraq 2Al-Nosor University, Baghdad, Iraq 3Tropical-Biological Research Unit, Science College, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq 4CBRN Division, Iraqi National Security Service *Corresponding Author: Ali Hafedh Abbas, Tropical-Biological Research Unit, Science College, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq, Email: ali_habbas@sc.uobaghdad.edu.iq
Online published on 23 December, 2019. Abstract Background Mobile phones are approximately widely used everywhere like in hospital wards, clinics and universities as well as biomedical laboratories. They have become very important tool in students’ life. In contrast, these tools carry many harmful bacteria which are responsible for infectious diseases in human because they serve as a reservoir for different pathogens. Current study was aimed to isolate bacteria from students’ mobile phones at the Institute of Medical Technology/Al-Mansour/The Middle Technical University, Baghdad, Iraq. Also, the study investigated microbial resistance to many antimicrobial agents as well as the appropriate remedial measures. Method Four hundred and fifty swabs from mobile phones were collected from 450 students (271 males and 179 females). Their age range was (17–30) years. Swabs were collected from students during March 2018. Results Out of the 450 swabs, 150(33.33%) swabs were positive. The percentages of the isolated bacteria according to gender were 53.33%(80 isolates) from males’ mobile phones and 46.66%(70 isolates) from females’ mobile phones. The most frequent Gram-positive bacteria isolated were Staphylococcus aureus (50%) followed by S. epidermidis (20%), whereas Gram-negative bacteria isolated were Escherichia coli (6.0%), Proteus mirabilis (2.66%), Proteus vulgaris (2.66%) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (2.66%). The isolated bacteria showed variable antimicrobial sensitivity patterns for different antibiotics. Most S. aureus isolates were resistant to Cefotaxime, Gentamycin, Amoxicillin, Ciprofloxacin and Augmentin, whereas other isolated species showed the highest resistance to many antibiotics of interest. The isolates of Micrococcus spp. were sensitive to all the studied antibiotics except Tetracycline and Fucidic acid. Conclusion The present findings indicated that contaminated students’ mobile phones could serve as reservoirs of bacterial agents. Also, most of the latter were resistant to many commonly prescribed antimicrobial agents. Top Keywords Mobile phones, contamination, pathogenic bacteria, Gram-positive bacteria, Gram-negative bacteria. Top |