Germs are everywhere. There are good germs and bad germs, but do you know one of the most germ-covered things in your life?
Are you reading this on your phone?
Uh, yeah... about that...
Cell phones come with us to the gym, the bar (where they might get dropped), the public restroom (where they get perched on toilets or toilet paper holders) and then they come with us to dinner, into our babies' mouths and in our beds.
Students from the University of Surrey in southeast England decided to give their own cell phones the Petri dish test and what they found was pretty putrid, according to Australia's News.com.au. The biggest region of retch-worthy germs is around the "home" button.
"As part of a course called Practical and Biomedical Bacteriology, an undergraduate module that I run, I get the students to imprint their mobile phones onto bacteriological growth Petri dishes so that we might determine what they might carry," said Simon Park, Senior Lecturer in Molecular Biology, according to News.com.au. "It's unusual but very effective way of engaging our students with the often overlooked microbiology of everyday life."
In past tests, Staphylococcus aureus was found on many phones. Researchers in 2011 found fecal matter, according to Digital Journal. (Do you wash your hands after using the loo)? Using a dirty phone can cause colds, flu, pink eye and diarrhea.
Harvest Cellular has a few recommendations for cell phone cleaning products, like PhoneSoap, which comes as a charger, a polish or a patch. The seemingly best way to clean your phone could be an alcohol swab, although it should be noted that according to a 2012 article from the Wall Street Journal, most phone companies do not recommend the use of any household cleaner, alcohol, ammonia, aerosols or water.
