After Mobile Phone Bacteria are Cultured for 72 Hours, You May Undergo Trypophobia

What are the three things young people can't live without today?

Mr. Tadpole makes a bold prediction that there are not as many people who choose “money” and “lover” as “mobile phone”. 

It has become a part of many people's daily life to play with mobile phones while eating, walking and going to the toilet!

However, do you know that mobile phones, which are inseparable from us, often carry a large number of bacteria and viruses and may do harm to our health?

Your Mobile Phone May be Dirtier than the Closestool

A researcher once did an experiment by spot-checking the mobile phones of 120 college students randomly for bacteria detection, and found that bacteria grew on the surface of the mobile phones of respondents (as shown in the following figure), and the bacteria over-limit rate of the boys' mobile phones was higher than that of girls (for boys don't wash their hands diligently?) 

It can be said that the bacterial status in the mobile phones of college students basically reflects the hygiene status of mobile phones of people who live in modern cities.

In another study, researchers spot-checked 108 mobile phones, and detected 240 strains of 10 types of bacteria, among which 39 strains were pathogenic Staphylococcus aureus.

According to a 72-hour colony culture and comparison, there were even more colonies on the mobile phone than on the closestool!

Comparison of Colonies on the Surface of Mobile Phone and Closestool

Mobile phones contain about 120,000 bacteria per square centimetre, which exceeds the quantity of bacteria on a door handle or in a shoe. The main contaminated part is buttons of mobile phone. 

CCTV News also reported an experiment on the culture of bacteria samples from the surface of a mobile phone.

In this experiment, when samples collected from the surface of the mobile phone were cultured for 72 hours, colonies grew on each Petri dish. These samples were sourced from taxi drivers, parents, students playing games or grandmas...

Imagine if you don't leave your mobile phone every day, you are actually eating, touching your face or shopping with a toilet in your arms… Isn't that sort of scary?

What Bacteria are there on the Surface of a Mobile Phone?

Below is a picture of bacterial colonies cultured on the surface of different people's mobile phones. By taking a close look, you will find differences in terms of color, shape and size.

Image source: CCYL

What kind of bacteria are they?

Through sampling and bacterial culture, it was discovered that most of these bacteria were Staphylococcus aureus, stagphylococcus epidermidis and Escherichia coli, etc.

Apart from the above bacteria, micrococci, etc. can also be seen on the mobile phone.

Most of the bacteria on the mobile phone are normal bacterial colonies, such as micrococci and stagphylococcus epidermidis, etc. They are harmless to humans. But some are potentially threatening germs, such as Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus.

Escherichia coli are a type of the genus Escherichia in the family Enterobacteriaceae, which is named after its parasitism in large intestines of men and animals, representing about 0.1% of intestinal bacteria. Most Escherichia coli are non-pathogenic, and harmless strains are normal flora in the intestinal tract, but some strains can be toxic.

Image source: Kivi Encyclopedia

Escherichia coli are discharged into the environment through feces (imagine the source of Escherichia coli on the surface of mobile phone), which are generally non-pathogenic.

However, if you often squat on the toilet and play with your mobile phone, even if you wash your hands after defecating, they may quietly settle on your mobile phone. If you are not careful enough and eat toxic strains, you may suffer from bromatoxism, vomiting and diarrhea.

Furthermore, if you don't wash your hands before defecating, when Escherichia coli sneak into the urinary system, they can cause urinary tract infection, leading to recurrence of urinary tract infection, cystitis, urethritis, frequent micturition, urgent micturition and painful micturition...

Another bacterium is a gram-positive coccus named Staphylococcus aureus, which is often concealed on skin surface and upper respiratory mucosa.

It is a common pathogenic bacteria, which can trigger bromatoxism. Moreover, it can also induce different degrees of suppurative inflammatory diffusion diseases, such as furuncle, carbuncle, otitis media, sinusitis, osteomyelitis and septicopyemia.

Therefore, for those who suffer acnes and folliculitis inexplicably, it is possible that there are germs on your mobile phone. They are induced by your touching faces after grabbing mobile phones.

Left panel: furuncle; right panel: carbuncle

Even more troublesome is that Staphylococcus aureus has evolved the ability to resist the attack of immune system and become a drug-resistant bacterium, namely, “superbacterium” that we often hear about. Therefore, we should try to avoid being infected by such bacterium.

Of course, in addition to Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, there are many other potential pathogenic bacteria and a variety of viruses, etc. on the surface of mobile phone...

But mobile phones are an indispensable part of our life, so it is necessary to clean them frequently!

How to Disinfect a Mobile Phone?

Beijing Municipal Health Commission proposed an interesting concept: to take a sterile bath for your mobile phone.

That is, to disinfect the mobile phone using alcohol: wipe (not directly spray) the mobile phone with disinfectant, ordinary wet wipes and 75% alcohol.

The reason why these three disinfection products are used is that the main valid ingredients of hand disinfectant are chlorhexidine gluconate and ethanol, which can effectively kill pathogenic bacteria, pyogenic cocci and pathogenic yeasts in intestinal tract.

Ordinary wet wipes are made of non-woven fabrics containing pure water and plant extracts, and disinfectant wipe is also an option. 

75% alcohol is the most widely applied and it has a universal effect on bacteria and viruses.

What should we do if the above disinfection items are unavailable at home? Essential balm can also be used as a substitute, as the last resort. 

Definitely, the most important point is to disinfect regularly for a long term. Once or twice won't work. 

Apart from disinfectants, the usage should be correct, too. Keep the following tips in mind.

1. Don't take other items while pressing buttons while you are on the phone or sending or receiving SMS, especially food, in case diseases come in at the mouth. 

2. Many people keep their phones in the same pocket as their wallets, keys and banknotes, etc., which can easily cause cross-contamination.

3. The use of earphone while talking on the phone can reduce the damage of mobile radiation, and also minimize the contact between mobile phone, face and lips to prevent droplet infection.

4. Wash your hands frequently. Believe it or not, our hands are the biggest habitat for bacteria and viruses. If you want to keep your phone as bacterial-free as possible, follow the rule of washing hands frequently.

After a set of operations, we can play with mobile phones relievedly!