Mobile phones are full of life, and we should disinfect them
Mobile phone touchscreens are home to lots of bacteria. This was the conclusion of a research by students Adrián Binka and Marek Ujpál from the Faculty of Medicine of Comenius University. It is advisable to disinfect your mobile phone, especially if you're a medic on hospital practice.
Adrián and Marek began researching the "life” on the surface of smartphones as part of the Student Research Activity (ŠVOČ) in their third year of general medicine studies. The idea was born during an exercise in microbiology. They realized that students carry mobile phones all the time, even during hospital practice, where they use them to jot down notes about patients while reviewing their medical history, to find out the effect and composition of medicines in internet databases, or to compare laboratory results. However, some of the bacteria in the hospital can be a source of nosocomial infections. "We thought it would be interesting to look at the mobile phones of young medics to see if they “took” some dangerous bacteria with them when they left the hospital - even those that might be resistant to antibiotics. The reverse situation was also considered: could they carry pathogens on their mobile phones that might potentially be a threat to hospital patients," explains Adrián Binka.
Samples from displays
In their research they chose groups of students who changed their clothes in the changing rooms after their hospital practice. The students were not informed beforehand that their mobile phones would be subject to research. Samples were taken under aseptic conditions, using disinfected gloves and while wearing a respirator, using a sterile swab moistened with a sterile physiological solution. "We smeared the screens horizontally, then vertically and crosswise, and placed the swab in transport medium to preserve the viability of the bacteria. Immediately after sampling we hurried to the Institute of Microbiology at the Faculty of Medicine and the Bratislava University Hospital where the samples were placed on blood agar. On the second and third day, we measured how much growth there was and what kinds of bacteria were present. We also sent the students a short questionnaire in which we asked them where they lived - in a student dorm or a private residence, how they travelled to school, where they usually carried their mobile phone, whether they used a disinfectant and so on," Adrián Binka describes the procedure.
In total, 45 mobile phones of medics were swabbed. Specialists at the Institute of Biochemistry and Microbiology of the Slovak University of Technology helped the young researchers identify the strains of bacteria present in the samples using a mass spectrometer.
Up to seven different strains
The results showed that there really is a variety of things living on smartphones, up to 7 different strains of bacteria and as many as 95 colonies. The most represented types of bacteria were coagulase-negative staphylococci (51%), micrococci (21%), Moraxellaceae (8%), Bacillaceae (6%). These were mostly common bacteria that are found on the skin or in the environment. A truly dangerous bacterium was identified in only one sample. "It was Acinetobacter baumannii, which belongs to the group of the ESKAPE nosocomial bacteria, in which resistance to several antibiotic drugs is increasing. It is a bit scary. Fortunately, the strain tested by us did not show resistance to any of the antibiotics tested and based on that we assume that it was probably not a hospital isolate. The presence of this bacterium proves that transmission on a smartphone to/from the hospital is possible, because A. baumannii can survive on dry surfaces," explains Adrián.
Statistical tests revealed a significant difference in the abundance of species on the displays of men and women - men’s phones had a greater variety. More strains of bacteria were discovered on the smartphones of students living in a dormitory and of students carrying their phone in the pocket than of students living elsewhere and of students carrying their phone in a backpack.
Disinfecting helps
What to do about it? Disinfect your mobile phone using a suitable disinfectant. "On average, 14 strains of bacteria were discovered on the smartphones whose owners don't tend to disinfect them, while we only discovered two strains on those that were regularly disinfected. Regular disinfection of the smartphone proved to be one of the factors that reduced the total number of discovered bacteria," says Adrián. The students would like to use the results of their research to improve the standard sanitization procedures that are taught during medicine study. "We proved that smartphones do carry bacteria. Fortunately, most of them are common strains that shouldn't cause any issues, but they still can survive on surfaces and can potentially present a danger to patients. Our work could lead to a change in standard procedures for medics and health professionals. Today, the standard is to disinfect hands, and 98% of our respondents confirmed that they were doing this. In the future, cell phone disinfection procedures should also be included in standard sanitization procedures," explains Adrián.
Adrián and Marek published their research and successfully presented it at ŠVOČ and at a congress of young microbiologists in Brno. If they receive grant funding, they want to continue their research by testing whether antibacterial surfaces that manufacturers advertise for some mobile phones actually work.
Barbora Tancerová