Mobile Phones in Hospitals Pose Pathogen Threat, Researchers Say

Wireless phones, an increasingly common presence in hospitals, are seen as a perilous health risk by researchers who say the number of dangerous multi-drug resistant organisms on patients' and their visitors' mobile devices greatly exceed the number on healthcare providers' devices in one studied hospital.

In a report  published in the June issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, Turkish researchers who examined pathogens on cell phones at the 800-bed University Turgut Ozal Medical Center suggest that their findings have important implications for hospitals in the U.S.

"The types of bacteria that were found on the patients' mobile phones and their resistance patterns were very worrisome," they wrote, adding that "specific infection control measures may be required for this threat."

The study was led by Mehmet Sait Tekerekoglu, MD, of the Department of Medical Microbiology at Inonu University in Malatya.

The researchers took swab samples from 133 mobile phones they obtained from patients, patients, companions, and visitors and 67 from healthcare workers, and ran cultures on bacteria collected from the keypads, microphones and ear parts of each device.

Nearly 40% of the phones collected from patients and their visitors, versus 20.6% of those collected from healthcare workers, showed presence of pathogenic bacteria. "Furthermore (a) higher number of multi-drug resistant pathogens were present on the mobile phones of (the) patients' group (including family members and patients' companions)."

The authors note that even though many hospitals ban use of cell phones on their premises because of concern about electromagnetic interference with medical devices, hospital policy is becoming much more relaxed. "Patients need mobile phones to maintain communication with their relatives or to manage their business from the hospital," they wrote. Additionally, cell phone communication often allows patients to communicate with their physicians and surgeons.

Bacteria that were found at higher rates on visitors' and patients' cell phones included methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci, multi-drug resistant staphylococcus aureus, streptococcus spp, escherichia coli and bacillus spp. Additionally, some germs were found only on the phones of patients and their visitors, not on the phones of the healthcare workers.

Marcia Patrick, a registered nurse and director of infection prevention and control at MultiCare Health System in Tacoma, WA, said the Turkish paper "begs further study."

"If there are devices in the environment that carry these resistant germs, the devices could become the source of infection for patients," she said in an e-mail.

The authors were careful to point out that they did not find, nor there has there been any other clear research, connecting resistant organisms on mobile devices with actual in-hospital transmission to patients.   But the fact that they are there is cause for concern.

"It is curious that the staff phones had lower rates of contamination – perhaps because they wash their hands more often or are leaning their phones more than patients and visitors," Patrick wrote. "Or, is the contamination of the phones just a reflection of the germs in the hospital environment that are picked up on the hands of patients and visitors and transferred to their phones?" Patrick is also on the board of directors of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.

She added that an important follow-up study would test patients' rooms and the hospital environment to see if there is a correlation between environmental contamination and phone contamination. "Maybe the real issue is environmental cleaning and disinfection," she wrote.

The authors noted that while there is a great deal of emphasis on cleaning all inanimate surfaces in healthcare settings, cleaning cell phones is problematic. "Many mobile phones are so sensitive to liquid contact and high temperatures that they cannot be disinfected frequently."

Reducing bacterial colonization on the mobile phones of healthcare workers, they wrote, may involve staff education, hand washing, use of alcohol disinfectant wipes, use of alcohol-chlorhexidine wipes, and consideration of the restrictions imposed on the use of mobile phones in certain high-risk areas.

But these precautions may also be adopted for phones of patients, their companions and visitors. Ultraviolet irradiation might be used as a disinfectant, and silicone cell phone covers that are easier to clean might offer some protection.

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