BURLINGTON, Vt. -
85% of adults in the U.S. own a cell phone. Many are using them for more than just making calls. As an object we constantly put to our face we wanted to find out if your cell phone is harboring germs that can make you sick?
These days it seems everyone has a cell phone and with smart phones and app's, you use the phone for more than making calls. It's also a way for instant entertainment. With so many features and ways to use it-many people refuse to put it down, even when they go into the bathroom.
"If you bring your phone into the bathroom with you there's chance you will have bacteria that is normally in our stool on your phone."
Hearing that was enough to make me want to quit this story, but we decided to put my phone and our photographer Tyson's phone to the test, to see just what kinds of germs live on cell phones.
To help us we asked Dr. Christi Wojewoda, Director of Clinical Microbiology at Fletcher Allen to help.
First is my phone, "I wiped the phone with the swab and then we put the swab onto a plate," said Dr. Wojewoda.
Next, Tyson's; and then it goes into the incubator.
Which is, " A warm nice environment for the bacteria to grow up," said Dr. Wojewoda, and then we wait, "we looked at them at 24 hours and saw a few colonies so we let them incubate for another 24 hours."
Dr. Wojewoda even took pictures of the germ's progress each day and finally it was time to look under the microscope, "We base our observation on how the colonies look to us color, texture, consistency I guess."
On the pink phone we found two different varieties of bacteria.
"Just a group of organisms that live on your skin," said Dr. Wojewoda.
So luckily, no fecal matter was found on either of our phones?
"No fecal matter, haha no poop on the phones," said Dr. Wojewoda.
Thank goodness, but she does say she expected our phones to be worse. If you are worried about your own lifeline, these simple, almost obvious steps help.
"Wash your hands. Everyone needs to wash your hands," said Dr. Wojewoda.
For at least 15 seconds with warm water and soap and on top of that, "I'll take an alcohol wipe and wipe down my phone."
All good ideas to try and make sure what goes near your face so often is somewhat free of germs but just know it will never completely be clear of bacteria.
"The bacteria are there for a reason so we don't want to sanitize ourselves but every now and then wiping your phone down with some soap and water won't hurt," said Dr. Wojewoda.
