{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,24]],"date-time":"2026-08-24T12:28:23Z","timestamp":1787574503124,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":27,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,24]],"date-time":"2026-08-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787529600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Medical University of Plovdiv"},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/02kzxd152","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Life"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Mobile phones are widely used by healthcare students during clinical training and may act as potential reservoirs for pathogenic microorganisms. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate and evaluate the role of mobile phones as epidemiological factors in the transmission of microorganisms in medical and dental practice. Methods: A cross-sectional epidemiological and microbiological study was conducted between September 2025 and April 2026. A total of 125 mobile phones belonging to fourth-year dental students and fifth-year medical students were examined. Samples were collected from the entire phone surface and cultured on blood agar, eosin\u2013methylene blue agar, and Candida chromogenic agar. Participants also completed a structured questionnaire assessing demographic characteristics, clinical experience, hand hygiene practices, and mobile phone use and cleaning habits. Results: No microbial growth was detected in 52.8% of samples on blood agar, while 44.8% showed growth below 105 CFU of coagulase-negative staphylococci and 2.4% showed growth \u2265105 CFU. Minimal growth was detected on eosin\u2013methylene blue agar (0.8%). Fungal contamination was identified in 2.4% of samples, exclusively among students who reported touching their phones with contaminated gloves. Statistically significant associations were observed between microbiological growth and students\u2019 specialty, duration of clinical experience, and contact with mobile phones while wearing contaminated gloves (p &lt; 0.05). Conclusions: Touching mobile phones with contaminated gloves was significantly associated with microbial growth. These findings emphasize the need for targeted infection control education and stricter guidelines regarding mobile device use during clinical training.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/life16091394","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,24]],"date-time":"2026-08-24T11:47:19Z","timestamp":1787572039000},"page":"1394","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Study of Microbial Contamination of Mobile Phones of Dental and Medical Students and Its Potential Epidemiological Implications for Microbial Transmission"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Veselina","family":"Kondeva","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Medical University of Plovdiv, 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6239-4418","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Velina","family":"Stoeva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Epidemiology and Disaster Medicine, Faculty of Public Health, Medical University of Plovdiv, 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8062-6799","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yordan","family":"Kalchev","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Plovdiv, 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria"},{"name":"Division of Innovative Diagnostic Methods, Research Institute at Medical University of Plovdiv, Medical University of Plovdiv, 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5160-6323","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rumyana","family":"Stoyanova","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Health Management and Health Economics, Faculty of Public Health, Medical University of Plovdiv, 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2026, June 10). 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