Assessment of microbial contamination of mobile phones among mothers in Raichur city, Karnataka

Abstract

Studies have reported that multiple contaminated surfaces play an important part in spreading diseases including mobile phones. Cell phones act as a medium by which bacterial pathogens are transmitted- either from phone to phone or from the hand of user to mobile phone; resulting in exchange of microbial flora. This study was carried out to assess the amount of bacterial contamination among mobile phone users who are mothers and handle kids below 6 years of age. The aim of the present study was to assess the presence of different microbial species for contamination among mothers with children <6 years of age using different mobile phones in Raichur. A cross sectional study was carried out among 60 mothers in Raichur city of Karnataka. The sterile swab was used to collect samples and transferred to the laboratory for assessment. Among the 60 study subjects, all of them did not know that micro-organisms spread from their body parts to mobile phone. No one was advised by the doctor on ill effects of mobile phone usage during pregnancy and none cleaned their phones regularly with any chemical disinfectant. Half of the microbes identified was Coagulase negative species.