Mycopathologia (2014) 177:59–64 DOI 10.1007/s11046-013-9708-2

Microfungal Contaminants on Mobile Phones of Health Services Vocational School Students in Marmaris, Turkey ¨ zkan • Yusuf Su¨lu¨n Vedat Kadir O

Received: 29 August 2013 / Accepted: 30 September 2013 / Published online: 8 December 2013 Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013

Abstract In this study, it was aimed to determine microfungi on mobile phones. Totally, 50 mobile phones were used belonging to Health Services Vocational School students. The samples were taken by swabbing the screen and keys of mobile phones using moistened sterile swab sticks. A total of 24 different microfungal species were obtained belonging to Alternaria, Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Geotrichum, Penicillium, Phoma, Rhinocladiella, Scopulariopsis, Trichoderma, and Trichophyton genera. The genera of microfungi most abundant in terms of the number of species on the mobile phones were Aspergillus, Cladosporium, and Penicillium. Numerically, Cladosporium was found as the most abundant on the mobile phones. Cladosporium herbarum colonies were highest in number, followed by Cladosporium sphaerospermum, and Penicillium verrucosum var. cyclopium. When percentages of each species present on the mobile phones were considered, C. herbarum and C. sphaerospermum were the most common. There was a great similarity between the dominant microfungi isolated from mobile phones and

¨ zkan (&) V. K. O Health Services Vocational School, Mug˘la Sıtkı Koc¸man University, 48700 Marmaris, Mug˘la, Turkey e-mail: [email protected] Y. Su¨lu¨n Education Faculty, Mug˘la Sıtkı Koc¸man University, Mug˘la, Turkey

dominant microfungi obtained from studies of atmospheric microfungi in Turkey. Keywords Microfungi  Mobile phone  Microfungal flora  Microfungal contamination

Introduction Due to the fact that they produce a lot of spores and by the movements of atmosphere, they easily move, microfungi can be seen almost everywhere in nature and they can contaminate every kinds of surface. They can cause several infections on plants, animals, and people in the same environment. They also can cause various allergic diseases on people such as asthma [1– 3]. For this reason, it is important to define microbial flora on the surfaces which are touched by hand. The researches about the microbial flora on some technological tools (computers, mobile phones, cash machines), which are commonly used by people and are indispensable in their lives, have become widespread in Turkey and other countries [4–15]. There has been only one research about determining the microfungi that contaminate the mobile phones in Turkey [4]. It is necessary to focus on such researches concerning individual and public health. This research is aimed to determine the microfungal contamination on mobile phones and to inform the community.

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Materials and Methods In this study, 50 mobile phones belonged to the students of Health Service Vocational School were sampled. Samples were collected by swabbing the screens and buttons of mobile phones with moistened sterile swab sticks [4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16]. Samples were transferred into petri dishes in which there were Rosebengal Chloramphenicol Agar (RbCA) by surface-spreading technique [4, 16]. Petri dishes were incubated for 2 weeks in 27 °C. The growing microfungi colonies were counted and transferred into tubes with Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) and were incubated for 2 weeks in 27 °C. After the incubation, from each tube to the petri dishes containing PDA, Czapek Dox Agar (CzDA) and Sabouraud Dextrose Agar (SDA) were inoculated with diagnostic purposes. After the 2 weeks incubation in 27 °C, microfungi colonies, which are grown, were identified according to their cultural and microscopical characteristics [17–20].

Results and Discussion In this investigation, 24 microfungal species belonged to 10 genera were obtained from the mobile phones used. Distributions of qualitative and quantitative of microfungi are shown in Table 1. Among the microfungal genera, Aspergillus had the most widely distributed as qualitative, and it was followed by Cladosporium and Penicillium (Table 1). Considering the number of colonies and rates of being on mobile phones, Cladosporium had the highest rate (Table 2). The most colonies were formed by Cladosporium herbarum, and it was followed by Cladosporium sphaerospermum and Penicillium verrucosum var. cyclopium (Table 3). When rates present on mobile phones were considered, C. herbarum and C. sphaerospermum were the most common (Table 3). Microfungi found a high rate in our study that are common in nature. Due to the fact that they produce lots of spore, they have large ecological tolerances and they easily spread with the movements of the atmosphere; they can easily contaminate almost the every surface [1–4, 17–20]. Our results show compatibility with these literatures. In the research done in Turkey, six microfungal species belonged to Botrytis and Penicillium genera were identified on mobile phones [4]. Compared to

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other research, higher rate of microfungi in our study may be derived from more mobile phones were used, and personal hygiene was not cared enough. There was no microfungal improvement on 11 mobile phones. This situation may have been caused by personal hygiene compliance and cleaned mobile phones. There can be found many similarities between the microfungi on the various belongings and apparatus and the atmospheric microfungi because atmospheric microfungal spores contaminate all types of surfaces. The genera of Alternaria, Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Penicillium, Phoma, Scopulariopsis, and Trichoderma were determined dominantly in the atmospheric fungi studies in Turkey [22]. In our study, it was determined that there was a great similarity between the dominant fungal genera, which contaminated mobile phones, and the atmospheric fungi. The genera of Rhinocladiella and Trichophyton were isolated as different from atmospheric fungi. These fungi may be contaminated from the individuals themselves or from the environment where the mobile phones were kept or hold. In other studies on mobile phones were isolated Aspergillus by Kokate et al. [8]; Candida, Aspergillus, Mucor, and Trichophyton by Tambe and Pai [10]; Alternaria, Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Penicillium, and Rhizopus by Al-Abdalall [11]; Penicillium, Aspergillus, and Mucor by Ilusanya et al. [12]. Our results are consistent in a large rate with the findings of these literatures. Alternaria alternata is one of the most common species of Alternaria. Most of their species are plant parasites; at the same time, they are the Risk Group-1 (RG-1) organisms which cause mycotic keratitis. Aspergillus species have been found commonly in nature. Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus terreus found in our study are RG-2 organisms which can show pathogenicity on humans and animals. Cladosporium species are RG-1 organisms, which are frequently isolated contaminants in nature. Geotrichum candidum is RG-1 organism and an extremely common fungus in the World. The most well-known disease that it cause is pulmonary involvement. However, it also can cause bronchial, oral, vaginal, cutaneous, and alimentary infections. Penicillium species are common contaminants on various substrates and are known as potential mycotoxin producers. Human pathogenic species are rare; however, opportunistic infections leading to mycotic keratitis, otomycosis, and endocarditis have been reported.

– –

– – – –

Trichoderma harzianum Rifai

Trichophyton terrestre Durie&Frey

1

















Scopulariopsis brevicaulis (Sacc.) Bain. Scopulariopsis candida (Gue´g.) Vuill



Penicillium citreo–virens Abe ex Ramirez





1



Geotrichum candidum Link



1

Cladosporium tenuissimum Cooke

1

Phoma prunicola (Opiz) Wr.&Hochapf.

1

Cladosporium sphaerospermum Penz.



Rhinocladiella atrovirens Nannfeldt



Cladosporium herbarum (Pers.) Link ex Gray







Cladosporium cladosporoides (Fresen.) Viries





Phoma medicaginis Malbr.&Roum. var. pinodella (Jones) Boerema



Aspergillus wentii Wehmer





Aspergillus terreus Thom

– –

Penicillium verrucosum Dierck var. cyclopium (Westling) Samson, Stolk&Hadlok

– –

Aspergillus nidulans (Eidam) Winter Aspergillus sclerotiorum Huber







Aspergillus fumigatus Fresenius







Aspergillus cervinus (Massee) emend.Neill

1



Penicillium glabrum (Wehmer) Westling



2

Penicillium purpurogenum Stoll



Aspergillus candidus Link

1





































– –









3





































– –









4

Mobile phones

Alternaria alternata (Fr.) Keissler

Microfungal species



























3









1 –









5





2































– –









6















17



1

















– –









7





























1







– –









8

Table 1 Qualitative and quantitative distributions of microfungi on mobile phones





















1















– –









9





1





















1

3







– –









10





































– –









11

5

























9





1

1

– –









12

































1



– –









13





1































– –









14





2









4



1









1







– –









15





1





















1

7







– –



1



3

16





































– –









17





































– –









18





































– –









19





1































– –









20



































– –









21



1

































– –









22





1





















4









– –









23









2



















1







– –









24









1





1











1









– –









25

6

1

9



4





22



2

1



1

21

13



2

1

1 –



1

1

3

Colony number

Mycopathologia (2014) 177:59–64 61

123

123 – 6 3

Cladosporium cladosporoides(Fresen.) Viries

Cladosporium herbarum (Pers.)Link ex Gray

Cladosporium sphaerospermum Penz.

– –

1 – – – – – –

Penicillium purpurogenum Stoll

Penicillium verrucosum Dierck var. cyclopium (Westling)Samson, Stolk&Hadlok

Phoma medicaginis Malbr.&Roum. var. pinodella (Jones) Boerema

Phoma prunicola (Opiz) Wr.&Hochapf.

Rhinocladiella atrovirens Nannfeldt

Scopulariopsis brevicaulis (Sacc.) Bain. Scopulariopsis candida (Gue´g.) Vuill

Trichoderma harzianum Rifai

Trichophyton terrestre Durie&Frey

Total colony number

– –

Penicillium citreo–virens Abe ex Ramirez

Penicillium glabrum (Wehmer) Westling





Aspergillus wentii Wehmer





Aspergillus terreus Thom

Geotrichum candidum Link



Aspergillus sclerotiorum Huber

Cladosporium tenuissimum Cooke

– –

Aspergillus nidulans (Eidam) Winter



Aspergillus cervinus (Massee) emend.Neill

Aspergillus fumigatus Fresenius

– –

Aspergillus candidus Link

26





– –





















4













1



1

27





– –



















1

1



















28

2



4 –



1















7





















29

Mobile phones

Alternaria alternata (Fr.) Keissler

Microfungal species

Table 1 continued





1 –



















2

2

2







1









30





– –





















3



















31





– –









































32





– –

















1

3





















33

3



– 1





















4

1





1











34





– –





















1



















35





– –







2













2



















36





– –









































37





– –









1





2





3



















38





– –



















5



2

















39





– –



















2













1







40





– –









































41





2 –













1





1



2

















42





– –



















1

1



















43





– –





















3



















44





– –









































45



– –





















8









1

3







46

1



– –

















1





1

















47





– –



















2

2











2







48





– 1

















1







1





2









49





– –























2

















50

206

6



7 2



1

1

2

1



1

2

3

27

40

10

1



1

4

6

1



1

Colony number

62 Mycopathologia (2014) 177:59–64

Mycopathologia (2014) 177:59–64

63

Table 2 The rate of presence of microfungal genera in total colony and mobile phones numbers Microfungal genera

Colony number

Ratio of total colony number (%)

4

1.94

2

4

Alternaria Aspergillus

Phone number

Ratio of total phone number (%)

19

9.22

12

24

115

55.82

32

64

Geotrichum

2

0.97

1

2

Penicillium

29

14.07

7

14

2

0.97

2

4

Rhinocladiella

4

1.94

3

6

Scopulariopsis

18

8.73

12

24

Trichoderma

1

0.48

1

2

Trichophyton

12

5.82

5

10

Cladosporium

Phoma

Phoma species have a worldwide distribution and are ubiquitous in nature. They are RG-1 organisms and are defined as pathogens to plants and humans. Rhinocladiella atrovirens has medically important and RG1 organism. Scopulariopsis species are mostly found in soil. However, it is stated that some species especially Scopulariopsis brevicaulis cause onychomycosis and hyalohyphomycosis. S. brevicaulis and Scopulariopsis candida are RG-2 organisms. Trichoderma is a very common genus particularly in soil and decaying wood. Trichoderma species are RG-1 organisms. Trichophyton terrestre is a geophilic fungus of worldwide distribution, which may occur as a saprophytic contaminant on humans and animals and RG-1 organism [20]. In RG-1, there are microorganisms which cause negligible individual and communal disease, and in

Table 3 The rate of presence of microfungal species in total colony and mobile phones numbers Microfungal species

Colony number

Ratio of total colony number (%)

Phone number

Ratio of total phone number (%)

Alternaria alternata

4

1.94

2

4

Aspergillus candidus

1

0.48

1

2

Aspergillus cervinus

2

0.97

2

4

Aspergillus fumigatus

6

2.91

3

6

Aspergillus nidulans

5

2.42

4

8

Aspergillus sclerotiorum

1

0.48

1

2

Aspergillus terreus

1

0.48

1

2

Aspergillus wentii

3

1.45

3

6

Cladosporium cladosporoides

10

4.85

6

12

Cladosporium herbarum

53

25.72

18

36

Cladosporium sphaerospermum

48

23.30

18

36

Cladosporium tenuissimum

4

1.94

4

8

Geotrichum candidum

2

0.97

1

2

Penicillium citreo-virens

2

0.97

2

4

Penicillium glabrum Penicillium purpurogenum

2 1

0.97 0.5

2 1

4 2

Penicillium verrucosum var. cyclopium

4

8

Phoma medicaginis var. pinodella

1

0.5

1

2

Phoma prunicola

1

0.5

1

2

Rhinocladiella atrovirens

4

1.94

3

6

Scopulariopsis brevicaulis

7

3.39

3

6

11

5.33

9

18

Scopulariopsis candida Trichoderma harzianum Trichophyton terrestre

24

12

1

0.48

1

2

12

5.82

5

10

123

64

RG-2, there are microorganisms which are widely seen in clinical microbiology and according to community or environmental health which are less risky [21]. In our research, considering to identify the RG-1 and RG-2 microfungi which can be pathogenic on humans, animals, and plants and to isolate microfungi from 39 mobile phones, we are in the opinion of suggesting that it is important to be aware of individual and environmental hygiene. We think that for avoiding infection from mobile phone users, the phones should be cleaned regularly with appropriate disinfectants. This investigation is aimed to identify the microfungi that contaminate the mobile phones that are one of the indispensable accessories of our lives. We believe that our study will promote other researches.

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Microfungal contaminants on mobile phones of health services vocational school students in Marmaris, Turkey.

In this study, it was aimed to determine microfungi on mobile phones. Totally, 50 mobile phones were used belonging to Health Services Vocational Scho...
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