Mobile phones and other touchscreen devices are proving excellent at spreading germs and viruses, a study has found. Skip related content
The latest generation of mobile devices make virus and germ transition very easy, and since they are primarily in contact with the face and head are proving very effective at transmission to others.
"If you put virus on a surface, like an iPhone, about 30 percent of it will get on your fingertips," Timothy Julian, a Stanford University doctoral student who co-authored a study on the spread of viruses, told the Sacramento Bee.
"A fair amount of it may go from your fingers to your eyes, mouth or nose," the most likely routes of infection.
The research, which was published by the Journal of Applied Microbiology, found that sharing you phone, or letting someone else touch it, significantly increased your chances of getting sick.
"If you're sharing the device, then you're sharing your influenza with someone else who touches it," said Julian
In July Which? examined 30 of the most popular mobile devices and found that some handsets had 18 times more living bacteria on them than the average toilet flush and at least one was infected with possible fecal matter.
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