Antibacterial Effect of Aqueous Neem Extract on Bacterial Isolates from Mobile Phones

Now mobile phones are used for communication between different sectors of society. This study identifies the bacterial contamination of mobile phones obtained from various places of the Chennai city among the general public that are in frequent contact with each and everyone, in today's world. A total of 10 mobile phones belonging to different areas in Chennai were screened for microorganism contamination. Mobile swab samples were collected from 10 different areas from Chennai and were dipped into 1ml sterile distilled water and spread plate method was performed to isolate the bacteria in nutrient media. Antibacterial activity of aqueous extracts of fresh neem leaves against isolated bacteria was determined by agar well diffusion method. Isolated bacterial cultures were identified by studying colony characteristics, Gram staining and Biochemical analysis based on Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology. Out of the total 10 mobile phones, Identified Organisms were Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumonia, Lactobacillus sp., Bacillussubtilis, Vibrio cholera, Escherichiacoli, Streptococcus sp., Staphylococcus sp. and Proteus vulgaris. It was found that the mobile phones of the general public were contaminated and thus acted as a potential source of various infections. Neem extract had a higher antibacterial activity of all the isolates.