Decontamination of mobile phones and electronic devices for health care professionals using a chlorhexidine/carbomer 940® gel

Abstract

Though they reduce microorganism growth, current hospital disinfectants also damage many of today’s modern electronic devices such as tablets and smartphones. Herein, the efficacy of a new chlorhexidine digluconate gel (CDG) was tested as a disinfectant for mobile and electronic devices in a clinical environment. Specifically, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus were used to infect the screen of eight smartphones. The CDG was prepared at concentrations of 2%, 4% and 6%, and tested on paper disks infected with these bacteria before being tested on the smartphones. The devices were disinfected with the CDG gel (4%) at two times: immediately and after 5 min of the bacterial contamination. In all cases, the CDG gel eliminated 100% of gram-positive and gram-negative microorganisms compared to the control (without any agent). In addition, the gel did not damage the smartphones. Therefore, our study suggests that the CDG gel may be applied to disinfect a wide range of electronic devices for health care professionals in the hospital environment.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

smartphones / disinfection / clinical environment / chlorhexidine / bacteria

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