Over 2.6 billion Americans now have a cell phone. And they are walking around with some nasty stuff on their phones. I’m not talking about porn or malware but real viruses. An article by Caroline Kee and Taylor Miller at Buzzfeed found that most phones are covered with some pretty scary germs.
The author took swabs of people’s cell phones to prove the point. Ms. Kee shared her swabs with Dr. Susan Whittier from Columbia University. They found that all phones had germs, bacteria, protozoa, viruses, and fungi on them, some of which are good for us and some of which are bad for us. The tests revealed that most phones had five kinds of harmless germs from the skin, mouth, nose, and environment.
• Staphylococcus epidermidis (not aureus): Dr. Whittier says if you were to just swab your skin, this is what you’d find. It is normal and would get on the phone from regular daily use, like touching or talking on it.
• Micrococcus: Dr. Whittier says this makes up the normal skin flora, especially on the face. Everyone has different skin bacteria; it depends on the person. It can get on your phone if you touch your face a lot or talk on it often.
• Streptococcus viridians: This bug lives in the mouth and throat, so it can get on your phone from talking, your fingers after touching your lips, coughing, etc. It’s usually harmless, but it can also cause infections in vulnerable people.
• Moraxella: This is from sinuses, and it’s often found in people with recurrent sinusitis or post-nasal drip. In high levels, it can cause inner ear and bloodstream infections. It’s still a pretty normal thing to find on a phone.
• Bacillus: Bacillus is a common bacteria from the environment, so it’s basically a sign that you’ve been outdoors. A lot of Bacillus means the phone is super dirty.
The bad news is that pathogens – potentially disease-causing strains of bacteria – were found on some of the phones tested. This is alarming. Think – salmonella, Ebola, bird flu, etc.
The most dangerous bug found on a phone was MRSA. MRSA, the flesh-eating bacteria, is a Staphylococcus aureus bacteria that is resistant to many antibiotics, including methicillin. It can cause serious infections in the skin and internal organs and can be fatal in vulnerable people. MRSA can spread easily between people and surfaces—often in health care settings, but it can also live on surfaces like subway handles, doorknobs, community bathrooms, showers, and especially gyms.
Columbia’s Whittier explained, “It’s a little worrisome for a phone to test positive for MRSA because it isn’t part of our normal flora.” We also know that MRSA loves to lurk on gym equipment and locker rooms, so it’s not completely abnormal to have it on your phone. About half the population carries Staph aureus with no problems. But this also makes it easy to spread between people and causes disease. Dr. Whittier warns that if Staph aureus gets into an open wound, it can cause major skin and blood infections, which can result in boils, food poisoning, toxic shock syndrome, and even death.
Poop. You’ve heard of E. coli. E. coli outbreaks have shut down restaurants like Chipotle and have caused many supermarket foods recalls. It was found on mobile phones. It’s a fecal organism, so it’s usually found in poop, but it can also live in the gastrointestinal tract along with other gut bacteria. Buzzfeed reports there are different types of E. coli, and some strains are way more pathogenic than others. E. coli has the potential to cause serious food poisoning and even death.
E. coli infections spread through the fecal-oral route. You will get sick if you touch your mouth with contaminated hands after using the bathroom or touching fecal matter. It turns out this is very common. In 2015, Verizon found that 90% of cell phone users use their mobile phones in the bathroom. A 2013 study by Michigan State University found that just 5% of people properly washed their hands after using the bathroom.
The Columbia MD warns this is why you shouldn’t bring your phone to the bathroom or use it while eating. E. coli on a phone could be from the person’s stool if they didn’t wash their hands or another person’s stool if the phone went into a public bathroom because fecal matter sprays everywhere when the toilet flushes
What to do? Even if you’re an avid hand-washer, your phone can still pick up germs all day. The Buzzfeed article makes two recommendations to keep your phone safe. Keep your mobile phone out of the bathroom (where gross stuff like Norovirus lurks). And don’t use your cell phone while you’re eating since that can transmit bacteria and viruses to your mouth and get you sick.
How can you keep those nasty bugs off your phone? The article recommends cleaning your phone once a week using this magical “phone soap.” It’s not actually soap — it’s a charger box that shoots out UV lights that “kill 99.9% of germs using UV rays” at Amazon.
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Back in 2013, I wrote about dirty mobile phones spreading Ebola here.
The advice from 2012 on how to disinfect your cell is still the same as in 2016. Use a soft, slightly damp, lint-free cloth. Avoid getting moisture in openings. Don’t use window cleaners, household cleaners, aerosol sprays, solvents, alcohol, ammonia, or abrasives to clean your iPhone. The front and back glass surfaces have an oleophobic coating. To remove fingerprints, wipe these surfaces with a soft, lint-free cloth. The ability of this coating to repel oil will diminish over time with normal usage, and rubbing the screen with an abrasive material will further diminish its effect and may scratch the glass.
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.