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. 2021 Jul 8;11(1):14102.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-93622-w.

A pilot metagenomic study reveals that community derived mobile phones are reservoirs of viable pathogenic microbes

Matthew Olsen  1 , Rania Nassar  2   3 , Abiola Senok  2 , Abdulla Albastaki  4   5 , John Leggett  1 , Anna Lohning  1 , Mariana Campos  6   7 , Peter Jones  1 , Simon McKirdy  6 , Lotti Tajouri  8   9   10   11   12 , Rashed Alghafri  1   4   6   13   5
Affiliations

A pilot metagenomic study reveals that community derived mobile phones are reservoirs of viable pathogenic microbes

Matthew Olsen et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

There is increasing attention focussed on the risks associated with mobile phones possibly serving as 'Trojan Horse' fomites for microbial transmission in healthcare settings. However, little is reported on the presence of microbes on community derived mobile phones which in 2021, numbered in the billions in circulation with majority being used on a daily basis. Identify viable microbial organisms swabbed from smartphones on a university campus. Entire surfaces of 5 mobile phones were swabbed and examined for their microbial content using pre-agar-based growths followed by downstream DNA metagenomic next-generation sequencing analysis. All phones were contaminated with viable microbes. 173 bacteria, 8 fungi, 8 protists, 53 bacteriophages, 317 virulence factor genes and 41 distinct antibiotic resistant genes were identified. While this research represents a pilot study, the snapshot metagenomic analysis of samples collected from the surface of mobile phones has revealed the presence of a large population of viable microbes and an array of antimicrobial resistant factors. With billions of phones in circulation, these devices might be responsible for the rise of community acquired infections. These pilot results highlight the importance of public health authorities considering mobile phones as 'Trojan Horse' devices for microbial transmission and ensure appropriate decontamination campaigns are implemented.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Sample growths of 5 community derived phone swabs on three different agar plates (HBA, MAC, NUT).
Figure 2
Figure 2
CHAO1 bacterial alpha-diversity representation across all three samples.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Heatmap visualisation of bacterial strains identified from community derived phone swabs.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Relative abundance of protists identified on community derived phones.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Relative abundance of bacteriophages, relating to specific bacteria, identified on community derived phones.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Relative abundance of virulence factor genes identified on community derived phones.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Individual metagenome distribution of identified antibiotic resistance genes from community derived phone swabs.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Infographic representation_Mobile phones serving as ‘Trojan Horse’ bypassing the current gold standard handwashing practices.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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