All sampled mobile phones were highly contaminated
with various types of bacteria. This suggests the potential
of the mobile phone as a fomite, which can result in
community-acquired infections with possible public health
implications. Periodic cleaning of mobile phones with
disinfectants or hand cleaning detergents, as well as frequent
hand-washing, should be encouraged as a means of
curtailing any potential disease transmission. Bacterial
flora on mobile phones of faculty members may vary in
composition, number and antibiotic sensitivity, to that
found on mobile phones of non- faculty members. These
results showed that university staffs, personnel, students,
health care workers (HCW) mobile phones were contaminated
with various types of microorganisms. Mobile
phones used by HCWs in daily practice may be a source
of nosocomial infections in clinics and hospitals. Therefore,
mobile phones can act as an easy way for transfer
of potential pathogens associated with nosocomial and
other infections. Decontamination of mobile phones with
alcohol disinfectant wipes as well as regular hand washing
should be done to prevent infections. The identification
of unique fragments for each isolate will help in rapid
identification of the isolate and also can be further utilized
to design a diagnostic marker which is isolate-specific.
Such marker can be utilized for tracking the isolate and
also to study their fitness in field