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Shambel Araya,1 Kassu Desta,1 Yimtubezinash Woldeamanuel2 1Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; 2Department of Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, EthiopiaCorrespondence: Shambel Araya Tel: +251939459529Email shambelaraya8@gmail.comBackground: Mobile phones are widely used in hospital settings for different purposes. Mobile phones of healthcare workers (HCWs) could be colonized or harbor extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing gram-negative bacteria and may act as source of infectious agents. The aim of this study was to determine the rate of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Gram-negative bacteria on mobile phones of healthcare workers, to assess their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns and associated factors.Methods: A laboratory-based cross-sectional study was conducted involving a total of 572 samples by rubbing swabs of the front screen, back, keypad, and metallic surfaces of mobile phones of healthcare workers using simple random sampling technique. All specimens were screened for ESBL using ESBL CHROME agar and confirmed using double-disk diffusion test (DDDT). Antibiotic susceptibility testing was done by the Kirby–Bauer disk diffusion technique on Mueller–Hinton agar. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 25, odds ratio and p-value was calculated to determine the association among variables.Results: Overall, the number of mobile phones contaminated by gram-negative bacteria was 454 out of 572 (79.4%). Female sex (OR 0.651, p-value=0.039) and service year (OR 0.468, p-value=0.038) of healthcare workers were found to be the most significant factors associated with healthcare professionals’ mobile phone and bacterial contamination. Nine percent of the isolates were ESBL-producers. K. pneumoniae (27%) was the dominant ESBL-producing isolate followed by Acinetobacter spp. (14.5%) and E.coli (14.5%). ESBL-producers were highly resistant to ampicillin (95.8%), piperacillin (83.3%), cotrimoxazole (70.8%), and chloramphenicol (54.2%), but highly sensitive to meropenem (87.5%), amikacin (85.4%), and piperacillin-tazobactam (81.2%).Conclusion: ESBL-producing Gram-negative bacteria were isolated from 8.3% of HCWs’ mobile phones. As high as 79.4% of the isolates were multidrug resistant. Mobile phones can lead to bacterial cross-contamination and could be a source of nosocomial infections.Keywords: mobile phones, extended-spectrum β-lactamase, Gram-negative bacteria, hospital-acquired infection, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Additional file 2. CONSORT checklist.

Additional file 3. Baseline questionnaire for TB patients.

Additional file 1. Search strategy.

Additional file 4. Patients user leaflet of evriMED500.

Additional file 5. Treatment adherence monitoring tool.

Background: Infection of open fractures depends on the microbial environment, fracture handling, and host factors. Sound knowledge of the bacteriological epidemiology and antimicrobial susceptibility helps to rationally select prophylactic antibiotics. Objectives: To isolate and identify the bacterial agents present on compound (open) fracture wound and to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern. Setting: Addis Ababa University, ‘Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital. Methods: Between November 2007 and May 2008, a cross-sectional prospective study was conducted to determine the bacteriology of open fracture wounds of 191 informed and consented patients (200 wounds) who visited the orthopedic department of ‘Tikur Anbessa’ Hospital. Wounds were graded using Gustilo-Anderson’s classification. The detailed bacteriological profile of the wound swabs collected by Levine’s technique is documented. All of the wound specimens were processed for microscopic examination, culture, and sensitivity testing. Results: Of the 191 patients, 82.7% were male whose average age was 31.55 years (age range 4 to 75 years). Most of the open fractures were caused by road traffic injuries (37.2%) and occurred in the lower extremity bones (60.0%). Twenty-three percent of the open fractures were Gustilo-Anderson grade I, 41.5% grade II, 14.0% grade IIIA, 5.5% grade IIIB, and 16.0% grade IIIC. A total of 162 bacterial pathogens were isolated from the open fracture wounds sampled. Staphylococcus aureus was the dominant isolate (14.8%), followed by Acinetobacter spp. (11.4%). The gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria accounted for 34.0% and 66.0%, respectively. Eighty-two (41%) of the wounds were culture-positive, of which 51.2% showed mono-microbial growth while 48.8% showed polymicrobial growth. All Clostridium spp. were susceptible to tetracycline, doxycycline, and kanamycin and showed low level of resistance (, Ethiopian Journal of Health and Biomedical Sciences, Vol. 3 No. I (2010): ETHIOPIAN JOURNAL OF HEALTH AND BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES