Brief report: bacteriological sampling of telephones and other hospital staff hand-contact objects

In an acute-care general hospital, 114 telephones, intercoms, dictaphones, and bedpan flusher handles were sampled in patient-care areas for type of bacterial contamination. Nine of these (7%) demonstrated potentially pathogenic bacteria including Klebsiella, Enterobacter, Pseudomonas and Aeromonas. Inanimate, environmental, staff hand-contact objects were only lightly contaminated, did not represent a significant reservoir of gram-negative organisms, and therefore, would be unlikely to be a vehicle of transmission of gram-negative bacteria from the hands of one staff member to another under routine circumstances. Surveillance and disinfection of telephones and related hand-contact items in the hospital appear unnecessary.