Your phone can make you sick

Next time you use a mobile phone, you might want to give it a wipe. Researchers have discovered there are more bacteria on the average mobile phone than you will find in a toilet. Tests showed that there was up to 10 times the amount of bugs which can cause nausea and stomach problems than were present in a lavatory. Experts said the reason is that phones are often passed between people. This spreads the germs around but they are never cleaned which means the diseases keep on building up.

Charles Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona, said during his ongoing experiments he found that bugs got onto a phone because it was so close to our hands and mouths. When somebody lets a friend or a stranger use their mobile their bacteria easily gets onto the device too. Gerba added that because mobiles are electronic some people are reticent about cleaning then.

Phones are just not part of our cleaning routine but we should think about giving them a wipe with an antibacterial substance every now and then. Previous research has found that other things which we assume are clean, are in reality rather disgusting. British scientists discovered that cash machines have similar levels of pseudomonads and bacillus which can cause sickness and diarrhoea, as they are found in public toilets. Computer keyboards are also five times dirtier than the average lavatory seat.

Researchers from Which? swabbed 33 keyboards for food poisoning bugs e.coli, coliforms, staphylococcus aureus and enterobacteria and found four of them were a potential health hazards. One was even "condemned" because it was too infectious. Remote controllers have also long been known as the grubbiest item in hotel rooms as they are never wiped down.

Taken from: The Daily Mail (article), Google (images).