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Article

High Level Bacterial Contamination of Secondary School Students’ Mobile Phones

by
Siiri Kõljalg
1,*,
Rando Mändar
2,
Tiina Sõber
3,
Tiiu Rööp
1 and
Reet Mändar
1
1
Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, Ravila 19, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
2
School of Law, University of Tartu, Näituse 20, 50409 Tartu, Estonia
3
Tartu Kristjan Jaak Peterson Gymnasium, Kaunase puiestee 70, 50704 Tartu, Estonia
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
GERMS 2017, 7(2), 73-77; https://doi.org/10.18683/germs.2017.1111
Submission received: 6 February 2017 / Revised: 17 April 2017 / Accepted: 25 April 2017 / Published: 1 June 2017

Abstract

Introduction: While contamination of mobile phones in the hospital has been found to be common in several studies, little information about bacterial abundance on phones used in the community is available. Our aim was to quantitatively determine the bacterial contamination of secondary school students’ mobile phones. Methods: Altogether 27 mobile phones were studied. The contact plate method and microbial identification using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer were used for culture studies. Quantitative PCR reaction for detection of universal 16S rRNA, Enterococcus faecalis 16S rRNA and Escherichia coli allantoin permease were performed, and the presence of tetracycline (tetA, tetB, tetM), erythromycin (ermB) and sulphonamide (sul1) resistance genes was assessed. Results: We found a high median bacterial count on secondary school students’ mobile phones (10.5 CFU/cm2) and a median of 17,032 bacterial 16S rRNA gene copies per phone. Potentially pathogenic microbes (Staphylococcus aureus, Acinetobacter spp., Pseudomonas spp., Bacillus cereus and Neisseria flavescens) were found among dominant microbes more often on phones with higher percentage of E. faecalis in total bacterial 16S rRNA. No differences in contamination level or dominating bacterial species between phone owner’s gender and between phones types (touch screen/keypad) were found. No antibiotic resistance genes were detected on mobile phone surfaces. Conclusion: Quantitative study methods revealed high level bacterial contamination of secondary school students’ mobile phones.
Keywords: mobile phones; contact plate; quantitative; potentially pathogenic microbes; children mobile phones; contact plate; quantitative; potentially pathogenic microbes; children

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MDPI and ACS Style

Kõljalg, S.; Mändar, R.; Sõber, T.; Rööp, T.; Mändar, R. High Level Bacterial Contamination of Secondary School Students’ Mobile Phones. GERMS 2017, 7, 73-77. https://doi.org/10.18683/germs.2017.1111

AMA Style

Kõljalg S, Mändar R, Sõber T, Rööp T, Mändar R. High Level Bacterial Contamination of Secondary School Students’ Mobile Phones. GERMS. 2017; 7(2):73-77. https://doi.org/10.18683/germs.2017.1111

Chicago/Turabian Style

Kõljalg, Siiri, Rando Mändar, Tiina Sõber, Tiiu Rööp, and Reet Mändar. 2017. "High Level Bacterial Contamination of Secondary School Students’ Mobile Phones" GERMS 7, no. 2: 73-77. https://doi.org/10.18683/germs.2017.1111

APA Style

Kõljalg, S., Mändar, R., Sõber, T., Rööp, T., & Mändar, R. (2017). High Level Bacterial Contamination of Secondary School Students’ Mobile Phones. GERMS, 7(2), 73-77. https://doi.org/10.18683/germs.2017.1111

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