Dr Gareth Nye, a senior lecturer in physiology at the University of Chester, has warned that your smartphone could be harbouring harmful germs that could then end up on your dinner table, the Daily Mail reports.
Unfortunately, these are bacteria that can cause everything from food poisoning to skin infections.
“They’re mostly gastrointestinal issues, like diarrhoea, vomiting and other stomach upsets. However, in people with weakened immune systems, they can cause very serious infections, like sepsis or pneumonia,” he explained.
Dr Nye spoke to Compare & Recycle about some of the types of bacteria that can be found on a smartphone.
“It depends on what the owner does,” he explained. — Healthcare workers, even if they are not working on the front lines, can grow a range of bacteria, the most common of which are Pseudomonas aeruginosa (which can cause severe respiratory or skin infections) and Acinetobacter baumannii (which can lead to meningitis). Non-healthcare workers still carry bacteria on their phones, with the most common being Gram-positive spore bacteria. This has been linked to food poisoning and other gastrointestinal issues. Dangerous E. coli and fecal streptococci bacteria can be spread on almost all phone surfaces.”
As disgusting as it may sound, Dr. Nye says these bacteria usually end up on our smartphones through our own hands.
“We touch about 150 different objects every day, and even more if you’re traveling to work, for example,” he said.