Increased Hospital Infections--Are Cell Phones the Culprit?
Cell Phones and Hospital Infections Are They a Bad Combination?
In the Tuesday June 21st 2011 Wall Street Journal article, a link to cell phones and increased hospital related infections were on tap. In the article a reported 100,000 deaths annually in the U.S and are on the rise worldwide.
Recently, a study published in the American Journal of Infection Control focused on a new source that is possibly part of the hospital infection quandry around the world: the cell phone. The study involved swabbings that were taken from the keypads, microphones and ear pieces of cell phones that included 20.6% of worker phones. Of the phones examined in the study, 133 were phones belonging to patients and their visitors, as well as 67% to health workers in a little Turkish hospital.
The study found 39.6% of phones owned by patients, and 20.6% of those phones owned by workers carried on them disease causing bacteria. Specifically, a bacterium that can cause severe infections in those people with immune deficiencies called coagulase negative staphylococci was discovered on 101 patient phones. This along with staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) made it's way onto 18 patient and 4 worker phones as well as streptococcus on 14 patient and 7 worker phones. E Coli was found on phones of 5 patients and one worker.
The article states that those patients with a lack of understanding regarding hospital hygiene as well as being of lower economic background could be possible reasons for these bacterias colonizing themselves on cell phones, and that to date there hasn't been a study that shows a direct link to the colonizing effects of cellphone bacteria as it relates to the uprise in infections.
As a former employee of a local hospital in my area, I was quite struck by the rise in hospital infections, and as a mid-lifer, wouldn't see the harm in keeping cell phones and hospitals separate like they once were. My guess is that those working the administrative areas of these healthcare facilities are probably taking this seriously because of the potential high cost that problems like these could cause.
Source: Wall Street Journal Tuesday June 21st 2011.
Published by Lyn Vaccaro
I am a mother of eight with a background in health and wellness, focusing on fertility enhancement, mostly for women of advanced maternal age. I owned and operated my own retail health food store for a numbe... View profile
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