Vol. 6, Issue 1, Part B (2024)

The investigation was carried out among 120 specimens sourced from scientific departments within the Basra Technical Institute throughout January 2022 to January 2023. The study examined microbial proliferation linked to using headphones and mobile keyboards within the institute's premises. Specimens were procured from both headphone surfaces and mobile keyboards and subsequently cultured on Nutrient Agar (NA) and MacConkey Agar (MA), leading to the identification of 28 distinct bacterial strains across the two sources: 60 specimens harvested from mobile keyboards (Ms) and 60 from headphones (Hs). Gram's stain and biochemical assays were employed to validate the isolates' identity. The microbial strains isolated from the above sources comprised 64% gram-negative and 36% gram-positive bacteria (refer to Tables 3, 4, and Figure 3). Further biochemical characterization of the isolates revealed that 8% tested positive for Indole (I), 14% for Voges-Proskauer (VP), 12% for Methyl Red (MR), 12% for Simon’s citrate (C), and 10% for Starch hydrolysis (S) (refer to Table 5). Notably, a notable degree of sensitivity was observed, exemplified by zone sizes of 30mm against Streptomycin (S10) and Norfloxacin (NX10), particularly evident in bacterial isolates M9 and E9. Conversely, a comparatively diminished level of sensitivity was noted, with zone Sizes of 11mm against Tetracycline (TE30) and Erythromycin (refer to Table 6). Furthermore, a pronounced level of resistance, reaching 99%, was recorded against Ampicillin (Refer to Table 7).