Mobile phones can cause flu, pinkeye and diarrhoea

With mobile users sharing an increasingly intimate relationship with their phones these days, it’s hardly surprsing to hear that mobile devices serve as an ideal host for all manner of germs, bacteria and diseases.
Among the most common bugs passed on as a result of the close proximity of mobiles to our person are flu, pinkeye and diarrhoea. And, while there are certain products on the market aimed at ridding our devices of any residual filth, they can also risk damaging the phone.
In a recent lab test by HML Labs of Muncie, eight phones were chosen at random from a Chicago office, revealing that while the mobiles showed no trace of E. coli or staphylococci bacteria, they all showed unusually high numbers of coliforms, a bacteria indicating fecal contamination.
However, of the eight phones selected, the lab detected around 2,700 and 4,200 units of coliform bacteria. To put that into perspective, in drinking water the limit is less than 1 unit per 100 ml.
Dr. Cain, of the American Academy of Family Physicians, explained: "People are just as likely to get sick from their phones as from handles of the bathroom. These are the unintended consequences of new technology that we haven't seen before so we don't know all the risks yet."
With regards to cleaning our mobiles, HML then tested four different cleaning methods, including water, alcohol, Windex Original glass cleaner and Nice 'N Clean electronic cleaning wipes. Results showed alcohol to be the best performer, cleaning almost 100 per cent of the bacteria. Plain water proved to be the least effective method.
Such consequences are in many ways an inevitability, after it was revealed last month that mobile phones carry ten times more germs than the average toilet, along with revelations that many are more than content to use their devices whilst on the toilet and during sex.

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