English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Background  Mobile phones of healthcare workers (HCWs) can act as fomites in the dissemination of microbes. This study was carried out to investigate microbial contamination of mobile phones of HCWs and environmental samples from the hospital unit using a combination of phenotypic and molecular methods.    Methods  This point prevalence survey was carried out at the Emergency unit of a tertiary care facility. The emergency unit has two zones, a general zone for non-COVID-19 patients and a dedicated COVID-19 zone for confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients. Swabs were obtained from the mobile phones of HCWs in both zones for bacterial culture and shotgun metagenomic analysis. Metagenomic sequencing of pooled environmental swabs was conducted. RT-PCR for SARS-CoV-2 detection was carried out.    Results  Bacteria contamination on culture was detected from 33 (94.2%) mobile phones with a preponderance of  Staphylococcus epidermidis  ( n / N  = 18/35),  Staphylococcus hominis  ( n / N  = 13/35), and  Staphylococcus haemolyticus  ( n / N  = 7/35). Two methicillin-sensitive and three methicillin-resistant  Staphylococcus aureus , and one pan-drug-resistant carbapenemase producer  Acinetobacter baumannii  were detected. Shotgun metagenomic analysis showed high signature of  Pseudomonas aeruginosa  in mobile phone and environmental samples with preponderance of  P. aeruginosa  bacteriophages.  Malassezia  and  Aspergillus  spp. were the predominant fungi detected. Fourteen mobile phones and one environmental sample harbored protists.  P. aeruginosa  antimicrobial resistance genes mostly encoding for efflux pump systems were detected. The  P. aeruginosa  virulent factor genes detected were related to motility, adherence, aggregation, and biofilms. One mobile phone from the COVID-19 zone ( n / N  = 1/5; 20%) had positive SARS-CoV-2 detection while all other phone and environmental samples were negative.    Conclusion  The findings demonstrate that mobile phones of HCWs are fomites for potentially pathogenic and highly drug-resistant microbes. The presence of these microbes on the mobile phones and hospital environmental surfaces is a concern as it poses a risk of pathogen transfer to patients and dissemination into the community.

frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology

Metagenomic Sequencing and Reverse Transcriptase PCR Reveal That Mobile Phones and Environmental Surfaces Are Reservoirs of Multidrug-Resistant Superbugs and SARS-CoV-2