PREVALENCE OF ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANT BACTERIA ISOLATED FROM PHONE

Mobile Phones serve as a means of communication. They can also harbor bacteria, most especially drug-resistant bacteria. The objective of this study is to isolate, identify and determine the antibiotic susceptibility profile of the bacteria isolated from mobile phone samples. A total of 100 mobile phone swab samples from both female and male students of Caleb University was collected. The samples were collected using a sterile swab stick and were cultured on the MacConkey, Mannitol Salt agar, Nutrient agar and Eosin Methylene Blue agar. Pure colonies were further examined using Gram staining and Biochemical testing for identification of the
bacterial isolates. Antibiotic susceptibility was done with the disc diffusion method. The questionnaires answered by the students showed 40% of male and 44% of females used hand sanitizer, 64% of male and 68% of females kept long nails, 60% of male and 44% of females had previously used antibiotics. Bacteria was isolated from all phone swabs (100%). The most prevalent bacteria isolates was Klebsiella pneumoniae (26%), Staphylococcus aureus (18%), K. oxytoca (10%), S. epidermidis (6%) and Escherichia coli (2%) among male samples and K. pneumoniae (32%), S. aureus (18%), K. oxytoca (12%), Proteus spp. (10%) and Micrococcus sp. (8%) among female samples. The isolates had multidrug resistance with resistance to Erythromycin, Clotrimazole, Ceftazidime, Tetracycline, Cefoxitin, Ceftriaxone and Imipenem. Mobile phones of students are colonized by multidrug resistant bacteria and thus serves as a means of transmitting these bacteria. Good hygiene habits, use of hand sanitizer are preventive methods that can be employed.