Distribution of Microorganisms Isolated from Cellular Phones

Cellular phones are the most used electronic device everyday in modern life and are always in contact with our hands, Although many studies have revealed microorganisms living on our hands, there are only a few reports on the research about products or places which are in contact with our hands. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to verify microorganisms living in cellular phones. Microorganisms were scraped from cellular phones of students and professors from the clinical laboratory science department in Daegu Health College, and cultured at Brain Heart Infusion agar and MacConkey agar following API kit to identify them. The average colony number was $1.5{\times}10^2$ on BHI agar and $40{\times}10$ on MacConkey agar. There was no difference according to gender. In Gram stain result, Gram(+) Cocci showed the highest frequency. Also in BHI agar plates, Micrococcus spp and Acinetobacter baumannii identified with high frequency. Moreover, S. aureus, which is very well known as strong food poisoning bacteria, was isolated. Klebsiella pneumonia ssp pneumonia was isolated with the highest frequency from the MacConkey agar or S-S agar plate. From these results show, there are as many different microorganisms from cellular phones as from our hands. This is the first report isolating strong food poisoning bacteria in cellular phones. Since infection in hospitals have been an important issue to be aware of, it is equally necessary to investigate cell phones and products which hospital workers touch with their hands.