The Evaluation of type and quality of microbial contamination of attends, students and employments cell phones of dental faculty of Tabriz Medical science university

Abstract

Cell phones are increasingly used by health care personnel for communication. The present study was aimed to evaluate the potential microbial contamination of cell phones and hands of professors, students and other health care workers in Tabriz dental school. Methods: 160 individuals were selected from professors, students and other health care workers in Tabriz dental school randomly. Samples were taken from both cell phones and personel dominant hands by a wet strile soap. After culture on a proper medium, isolation and characterization of microorganisms were performed. The type of microorganism in cell phone and hand and the bacterial count and the number of cell phone use as well as hand washing after operation were reported descriptively. Results: Microbial contamination was found in 97.5% of cell phones. Regarding the type of microbial contamination in cell phones, epidermis in 44%, staphylococcus aureus in 19.5%, epidermis and staphylococcus aureus in 25.5%, and other species in 8.8% were isolated. Hands of all studied individuals were contaminated. Regarding the type of microbial contamination in hands, epidermis in 1.3%, staphylococcus aureus in 5%, epidermis and staphylococcus aureus in 93.7 were isolated. Pearson correlation revealed that there was a direct correlation between the bacterial count in cell phones and hands and the number of cel phone usage (P<0.05). Conclusions: based on the findings of this study, most of cell phones and hands of professors, students and other health care workers in Tabriz dental school were contaminated.