METHODS
During the period from December 2014-January 2015, 96 mobile phones of healthcare providers in IMICU, anesthesia intensive care unit (AICU) and operating room of our hospital were sampled for bacterial contamination. On the other hand, during the same period we investigated nasal S. aureus colonization of same healthcare providers. The samples were screened for bacterial pathogens by standart bacteriological procedures. The methicillin sensitivity of the identified S. aureus isolates were tested. Eight methicillin-sensitive S.aureus (MSSA) strains isolated from the noses of the healthcare providers and five MSSAstrains isolated from their mobile phones were included in this study. The section from which the strains were isolated, occupational group and sample distribution are presented in
Table I.
The clonal relationship between the strains and molecular epidemiological status were investigated by the pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) method. The bacterial DNA was obtained from each strain by the acromopeptidase method. The DNA macrorestriction analysis was performed according to the protocol prepared by the Scottish MRSA Reference Laboratory with the Sma I restriction method suggested by Bannerman et al. 5 The Chef DR III (Biorad) device was used for PFGE, and EMRSA 2 and EMRSA 6 strains were included in the study with the aim of making a comparison. After electrophoresis, the gel was stained with ethidium bromide (0.5 µg/ml), and DNA bands were observed. The clonal relationship between the strains was evaluated according to the criteria described by Tenover et al. from the DNA band patterns formed in the gel after PFGE6.