Important Bacterial Contaminants of Public Payphones on the Campus of the University of Ghana

Abstract

Over the years, the telephone has become a very important gadget; with public payphones and private cell phones becoming more common as the years go by. Since public payphones are used by so many people, it is necessary to investigate the possibility of the transmission of infectious agents through the use of this popular means of communication. The study investigated for Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Salmonella typhi and Shigella species. Sixty (60) Swab samples were taken from the handles, ear and mouth pieces of public payphones around the campus of the University of Ghana. These were grown on appropriate media and identified. Eleven (11) different types of microbes were observed, with only Staphylococcus aureus obtained from the ear and mouth pieces of telephones. The microbes isolated from the telephones included gram-positive rods (35%), S. epidermidis (23%), gram-negatives rods (11%), gram-positive cocci (10.7%), and gram-negative cocci (4.7%). Only 2.3% of the telephones had S. aureus. No S. typhi, Shigella sp. and Streptococcus pyogenes were isolated. It is concluded that public payphones too can play a significant role in the transmission of microbial infections.