Detection of pathogenic bacteria associated with earphones used by students of Stamford University Bangladesh

The use of earphones has increased in recent times throughout the world especially among the different level of students such as school, college or university who have a higher tendency of sharing these among them. Unlike airline headsets, headphones and stethoscope ear-pieces, ear phones are often shared by multiple users and can be a potential medium for transmission of pathogens, which can give rise to various ear related infections. The objective of this study was to detect the pathogenic bacteria from the ear-phones used by the students of Stamford University Bangladesh. A total of 16 ear-phone swabs were collected by sterile cotton swabs. The swabs were inoculated onto blood agar and incubated aerobically overnight at 37oC. Microscopic observation and standard biochemical tests were performed to confirm the identification of all the bacterial isolates. Six presumptively identified Staphylococcus spp. (38%) were tested against six different types of antibiotics following Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. Isolates were found to be 84% resistant against Cotrimoxazole and demonstrated 100% sensitivity to Vancomycin and Ciprorofloxacin. The findings of this study suggest the users to disinfect their respective ear phones and not to exchange them as they may act as a potential source to transfer pathogenic and antibiotic resistant bacteria among the ear phone users. Stamford Journal of Microbiology, Vol.10 (1) 2020: 1-4