Is your phone bugged? The incidence of bacteria known to cause nosocomial infection on healthcare workers’ mobile phones.

The authors undertook a study to investigate healthcare workers' (HCWs) use of mobile phones within a district general hospital. Of the 148 HCWs sampled, 145 (98.0%) owned a mobile phone. In total, 96.2% of phones demonstrated evidence of bacterial contamination, and 15 (14.3%) of the mobile phones sampled grew bacteria that are known to cause nosocomial infection. It was found that 38.1% of phones grew one bacterial species, 38% grew two different species and 20.95% grew three or more different species. Journal of Hospital Infection 2006;62:123-5.