How clean is your mobile phone?
You may like to throw your mobile phone after reading this, as a new study has found the average handset carries 18 times more potentially harmful germs than a toilet’s flush handle. An analysis of handsets by British researchers found that almost a quarter of them were so dirty that they had up to 10 times an acceptable level of TVC bacteria.
TVC, or Total Viable Count, gives a quantitative idea about the presence of microorganisms such as bacteria, yeast and mold in a sample. Elevated levels of TVC indicate poor personal hygiene and act as a breeding ground for other bugs.
One of the phones in the test had such high levels of bacteria that it could have given its owner a serious stomach upset, said the researchers who carried out the study for the ’Which?’ magazine.
The findings from a sample of 30 phones suggest that 14.7 million of the 63 million mobiles in use in the UK today could be potential health hazards, they said.
"The levels of potentially harmful bacteria on one mobile were off the scale. That phone needs sterilising," lead researcher Jim Francis was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail. According to the findings, the most unhygienic phone had more than ten times the acceptable level of TVC, while the worst handset had 39 times the safe level of enterobacteria - a group of bacteria that live in the lower intestines of humans and animals and include bugs such as Salmonella. It boasted 170 times the acceptable level of faecal coliforms, which are associated with human waste.
Other bacteria including food poisoning bugs e.coli and staphylococcus aureus were found on the phones but at safe levels.
Which? magazine’s Ceri Stanaway said: "Most phones didn’t have any immediately harmful bacteria that would make you sick straight away but they were grubbier than they could be. "The bugs can end up on your hands which is a breeding ground and be passed back to your phone. They can be transferred back and forth and eventually you could catch something nasty. "What this shows is how easy it is to come into contact with bacteria. People see toilet flushes as being something dirty to touch but they have less bacteria than phones. "People need to be mindful of that by observing good hygiene themselves and among others who they pass the phone to when looking at photos, for example."
The magazine has previously found that some computer keyboards carry more harmful bacteria than a lavatory seat.
copy & paste :)
I know I drive loved ones wild but what to do ya'ni? At least I know I'm not the only one,huh? lol..Good night to you too!
Fathimah .. being clean and keeping clean is hygienic but being hypersensitive about it may not help in some situations
to sum up - cleanliness helps to avoid unwanted illness
good night guys
Bout public restrooms..oooooh! I feel ya.. IMO there is no such thing as "too clean" at least this thread will prove my point to a certain extent.Leave no surface uncleaned! =D
am the same... I have hand sanitiser everywhere, including Clorox wipes in my car...
Working with animals all day and then working on different Apple Mac in my office, I am a fanatic about keeping my hands clean.... I take tissues, add sanitiser and wipe my keyboard frequently... I do the same to my BlackBerry....
My pet hate is going to a public restroom and watching women just walk out the toilet and not washing their hands.... ewwww.... so am definately with you on this:-)
rony, yup i know...But i can manage it quite well...
well Soniya with the lil' One growing up u will have hands full (cleaning)
FathimaH, yes i am really a CLEAN MANIAC..My hubby found it quite difficult to adjust with me at our initial state of wedding..lol..But now he respects me for that..I just adopt one policy that no matter how he or others makes my home dirty, i clean it again with no complaints..
Happy to know this..Finally I find someone like me..lol! Join the club =D
Oh ! that's really interesting to know something new..I being a CLEAN FREAK as well always keep HAND SANITIZER whenever i go out in public places..I do follow the frequent hand washing habit even at home..And make others in my family to do same....:)
why don't we wash our hands and our cellphones too :P
very clean
THANKS
i m 100% sure that my wallet contains more bacteria then my cellphone and we all know why
my phone happens to throw itself out of me .. every new moon :(
my phone takes a bath everyday, eventually it is clean....
interesting article, but no. I won't be throwing my phone anytime soon though. :)
now where is the idea to clean ur phone??
this whole story is abt bacteria?
well we can just wash our hands before eating that would be fine
Abe Rizks take mine. For free, just pay the pending 9875 QR bill only :D
the name of the magazine is really interesting " Which "
I am not licking on my mobile or keyboard.. keep regular hand hygiene
there are plenty of places as dirty... door handle, light switch.. ATM buttons, when you pay with debit card.. the card itself or the unit you punch your numbers into... and so on
so most important is not to rave about how dirty it is teach everyone to wash the hands more frequently... most people do not wash hands even once a day..
WK u want my mobile ?
just pay me Qrs.6000/- bucks Only !
drmana if there were no mobiles, I would have been in India right now. Another tragic long story of my life :(
Will tell you in detail someday :(
is far outweigh by the positive aspects of using one! So no need to throw away such "unclean" phones! Lol!
WK, stop hating everything, grrrrrrr...... :-)
Throwing away mobile phones...no way. Just make sure to wash your hands frequently and just before eating. That would solve the problem.
I hate whoever invented mobile phones
But I suffer from OCD & I'm a cleanliness freak so I ensure that my keyboard & phone gets well sanitized regularly! My hubby & those around me though find me nutty so I'll make sure they read this..TFS =D
mjamille let me know when u decide to throw, when and where :)
just kidding
nice read, but this won't make me throw my phone away.. it would take more than that...
thanks galloper, will do next time
didn't put the link as it showed a particular mobile brand as a model
always remember to put the link to the original information or source.
On the other hand it was an interesting reading.
Regards!!