Navi Mumbai doctors have joined the world scientific study to establish a deadly hospital superbug in mobile phones of doctors, nurses, technicians and ward boys.
Navi Mumbai doctors have joined the world scientific study to establish the deadly hospital superbug MRSA in mobile phones of doctors, nurses, technicians and ward boys.
A study conducted by Dr Chitra Pai and Dr Nikhil Tandel of Navi Mumbai's MGM hospital showed that around 82 per cent of the 120 mobile phones belonging to hospital staff including doctors and nurses had shown growth of the deadly microbes Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) known to cause skin disease at community level and is resistant to most of the antibiotics.
Pai and Tandel also found other microbes which can cause lung infection and fungal infection on the skin.
"Mobiles are handled with hands with sweaty palms which makes good medium for bacterial growth and we found that 82.5 per cent of the phones had microbes that are capable of causing skin and throat infections," Pai told reporters on Tuesday.
The study, supported by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), showed 54.6 per cent staphylococcus bacteria, 20.83 micrococcus, 6.66 per cent candida, five per cent aspergillus and 2.5 per cent of gram negative bacteria are present on the mobile phone.
Pai pointed out that this was the study carried out on only 120 mobile phones in the hospital.
However, such situations also occurs outside hospitals, she said.
A similar study has been conducted by doctors in Microbiology and Biochemistry departments in Amravati University and DR P DM Medical college in Amravati, Maharashtra, which was published in the Journal of Medical Science in January 2008.
BYL Nair hospital has carried out a study on the hand washing practices among health workers and Jayanthi Shastri, Professor and Head of Microbiology said, "Cell phones are an ideal breeding ground for germs."
This includes the dangerous bacteria called Staph, which can cause everything from pimples to pneumonia to meningitis.
In early 2006, a microbiologist Professor Charles Gerba of the University of Arizona was perhaps the first one to tell the world about the microbes growing on the cell phones.
In an informal on-the-street test, Gerba ran 11 phones through his "germ meter" test, which counted the number of microbes on the phones. Five of the phones failed that test, meaning they had thousands of types of bacteria.
"It is not necessarily a problem so long as they all come from your own skin. Once you start sharing a cell phone is when things can get ugly," Gerba said.
Studies were also reported about infectious bacteria present on computer key boards to door handles.
"Handwashing practices should be adopted by everyone and the gap between awareness and implementation has to be reduced," Shastri said.
Meanwhile, at the press conference, Sekhar Krishnan, Partner of the Janani Enterprises announced their B-Del mobile de-odorizer, which act as disinfectant for these superbugs.
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