The Microbiome Analysis of Hospital Mobile Phones: Hidden Contaminants Revealed

Abstract

Background: The undisputed versatility of smart devices makes them integral to modern-day society, especially within our National Health System. Despite the benefits, there are increasing concerns regarding their contamination and the associated infection risk. Bacteria under antimicrobial selective pressure can rapidly acquire resistant mechanisms leading to the assumption; mobile phones used within clinical environments may harbor bacteria associated with a higher infection mortality rate. Using next-generation sequencing technology, we characterized the true extent of bacterial contamination on mobile devices of hospital staff to determine the level of antimicrobial resistance within Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis. Smart phones of 250 hospital staff and 191 control group participants were swabbed over a 6-month period. The microbiome of devices were characterized using Illinima MiSeq metabarcoding pipeline. Cultured isolates were quantified and underwent Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion. Primer version 6 and SPSS version 23 software were used to analyze the statistics. Nearly all mobile devices were contaminated with potential pathogens regardless of environment. Metabarcoding revealed far greater bacterial diversity and abundance of gram-negative bacterial contamination than did culture-based methods. In total, 198 bacterial genera of were discovered across both groups, of which 34 were unique to the hospital. Bacillus was significantly higher within the hospital group (P = .036). Differences were also detected within the hospital (high-risk vs low-risk areas, P = .048). Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcusfaecalis were only isolated from hospital mobile phones (P < .001 and P = .038, respectively). Our results indicate that traditional culture-dependent swabbing methods do not provide an accurate picture of contamination. Metabarcoding reinforces the need for mobile phone infection control practices to mitigate the risks associated with the increase use of smart device technology in clinical environments. These devices are currently exposing immunocompromised patients to unknown levels of pathogenic and multidrug-resistant bacteria. Departmental differences may suggest that the mobile phone is not just an extension to its owners but to their environment and that routine decontamination should be required to prevent the undermining of hand hygiene and the transmission of pathogenic bacteria.

Funding: None

Disclosures: None