Prevalence and Antibiotic Sensitivity ofEnterococcus sp. from Mobile Phones of Doctors and Nurses
Tuhi Ram1,* and Dr. Mukta Sharma2
1,*Research Scholor, Medical Microbiology, Singhania University, Distt. Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan, India.
2Professor & Head, Department of Microbiology, SBB Dental College, Hospital and Research Centre Ghaziabad, U.P., India.
Mobile phone may facilitate frequent transmission of bacterial isolates from one person to another. The telephone and computer accessories are well known objects for the spread of infectious agents to healthy or immunocompromised individuals not only in hospitals but also in community. The total of 472 swab samples of mobile phone from hospital personnel were collected and studied for the presence of pathogens. The total bacterial growth obtained from mobile samples was 98.7% (466/472), from hospital population, whereas Enterococcus sp. prevalence was 13.9% (65/466), the growth of Enterococcus sp. isolated from mobile phones of doctors was 14.2% (14/98) and from nurses mobile phones it was 11.4% (17/149) whereas from health care workers it was 13.4% (53/393) and non health care it was 16.4% (12/73). The antibiotic sensitivity of Enterococcus sp. was found resistant all antibiotics except cloxacillin (100%), co-trimoxazole (55.3%) and gentamicin (52.3%).
Keywords: Enterococcus sp. antibiotic sensitivity, nosocomial infection and mobile phones.
