By Natasha Lomas, 13 March 2009 13:14
NEWS
Using a mobile phone can be as risky as putting your face on a toilet bowl, research has found.
In tests of mobiles belonging to 200 doctors and nurses working in operating theatres and intensive care units, 95 per cent of handsets were contaminated with at least one type of bacteria.
One in eight of the handsets examined was shown to be carrying the potentially fatal MRSA superbug but only 10 per cent of staff questioned admitted to regularly cleaning their phones, according to research conducted by Ondokuz Mayis University, Turkey and reported in the current edition of the Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials.
Mobiles are obvious contenders to pick up germs given their regular handling, but surveys reveal Britons frequently make use of the gadget in the toilet which could also explain some of the germs.
Commenting on the research, Andy Felton, director of microbial sterilisation systems company Purelight UK, said in a statement: "Based on these findings, holding your phone to your mouth is as dangerous as placing your face on a toilet bowl, and yet we do it all day long without a second thought."
Mobiles are by no means the only culprit in the dirty gadget line-up - computer keyboards are also particularly germ-friendly owing to office workers eating at their desks.
Comments
There are 6 comments. Join the discussion
1. Dr Kadiyali M Srivatsa
If Doctors, nurses in Britis hospitals stop using mobile phone and ladies hand bag, I think they can save a lot of money wasted on cleaning hospitals.
2. Paul Seligman
Which raises the question - how do you clean and disinfect your phone without damaging it?
3. John H Woods
Of course, putting your face over a toilet bowl isn't actually that dangerous, for all the dramatic imagery. It would be worse to wipe your face with an average domestic dishcloth. Or somebody elses face --- and there's the point --- unless you share your mobile a lot, the germs on it ARE YOURS.
Is anybody else sick of 'scientists' grabbing the headlines with their stupid statements? I speak as an ex biochemist - in my day we used to observe, measure and record results with a view to accuracy and relevance, with any comparisons being made for information, rather than headlines.
4. GALLEYSLAVE
Lets go back to the days when cell phones came with a plastic wipe clean GLOVE. end of problem!!
5. Dan Barnes
Given the outbreak of dysentery that hasn't happened as a result of this, surely the question is - how are our toilet bowls so clean?
These press releases ignore the great health in which we all stand - they should be written into stories with a greater degree of cynicism.
6. Simon
What ! No B-Ark gags ?