FILTHY PHONES

NEARLY one in five mobile phones used in hospitals are carrying bacteria that can spread disease and infection, a Tasmanian study shows.

The results have prompted a call from the state’s top doctor for health professionals to disinfect their mobile phones.

Lead author Yi Chao Foong was a fourth-year medical student in Launceston three years ago, when his concerns about mobile phone hygiene first arose.

Dr Foong noted there were cleaning protocols for nearly everything else within his clinical settings except mobile phones, so he launched a study into the threat mobile phones posed to patient health.

The study, which is published in the latest edition of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, focused on 226 mobile phones used by doctors and medical students between January 2013 and March 2014.

The research revealed an alarmingly high level of bacterial infection.

“I noticed that while mobile phones were an important part of communication in hospitals, they weren’t being cleaned very well,” Dr Foong said.

“What our study found was that about three quarters of phones were growing bacteria.

“While much of this was normal skin bacteria, one in every 20 phones had potentially pathogenic bacteria.

“That might sound like a small number, but given there are so many phones in Australian hospitals these days, it’s a significant amount.”

The study found just 31 per cent of participants reported cleaning their mobile phones regularly, with even fewer using alcohol-based wipes.

Dr Foong said the study recommends Australian hospitals develop and introduce compre- hensive disinfection guidelines for staff who take mobile phones into a clinical setting.

Australian Medical Association Tasmanian president Tim Greenaway said the research was a timely reminder for medical professionals.

“It’s certainly something we should be mindful of,” Dr Greenaway said.

“Health professionals use mobile phones all the time now — it’s no surprise that they can get contaminated.”