Not a virus, but bacteria on your phone

Kicked about your smartphone's features? Would you be equally kicked when told that your smartphone shares your personal microbial world too?

A new study by a team of microbiologists at the University of Oregon has found that more than 80% of the common bacteria that make up our personal 'bacterial fingerprints' end up on mobile phone screens.
If you think the germs on your phone are safe because they're yours, the problem is when you pass your phone along to someone else.

"We share more than an emotional connection with our phones — they carry our personal microbiome — the trillions of different micro-organisms that live in and on our bodies," says Dr James Meadow of University of Oregon, who led the research team conducting the study.

For the study, the microbiologists sequenced the DNA of microbes found on the index fingers and thumbs of 17 people and took swabs of the subjects' smartphones. A total of 7,000 different types of bacteria were found in 51 samples. On an average, 22% of bacterial families overlapped on fingers and phones, and 82% of the most common bacteria present on participants' fingers were also found on their phones.

They included three families that are commonly found on the skin or in the mouth — streptococcus (sore throats, fever, skin infections, pneumonia and meningitis), staphylococcus (skin infections, blood poisoning and toxic shock), and corynebacterium (conjunctivitis, inflammation of the inner layer of the heart and diptheria). While both men and women shared bacteria with their phones, the connection was stronger in women.

"This project was a proof-of-concept to see if our favourite and most closely held possessions microbially resemble us," Meadow said. "We are ultimately interested in the possibility of using personal effects as a non-invasive way to monitor our health and our contact with the surrounding environment."

He emphasised, however, that there is no evidence that mobile phones present any more infection risk than any other possession. "Our phones could one day be used to study whether people have been exposed to certain bacteria, particularly health care workers."

The scientists said the overlap between the collection of micro-organisms naturally present on our bodies and those on the screens of smartphones could one day be used to track people's exposure to bacteria.

Though admitting that the sample size was not large, Meadow felt the findings were "revealing".

Calling the sample-size "problematic", Haffkine Institute director and head, microbiology, Dr Abhay Chowdhary raised questions about the connections being sought to be made. "It is nobody's case that micro-organisms do not latch on to personal use items like cell phones. It is also true that this can be found more in case of people who work in the health sector," he told dna and added, "I will have to see the study and find out more about methodology used to be able to say whether the claims are true."

He also pointed out how worldwide there is increasing scientific interest in the human microbiome. "This can vary person to person depending on hygiene practices, genetic make-up and other factors," he explained.

He suggested that using tissue with sanitiser to clean personal effects, which are continuously in contact with a person's skin, is important.

Earlier in August 2012, a University of Arizona study too had warned: "Cellphones could be dirtier than a toilet seat."

"What you typically would find is bacteria that can be associated with skin," that study had said, "and not infrequently fecal bacteria."

Meadow told dna, "Antibacterial wipes could clean up your phone and cotton swabs could help clean between the keys but some germs are far too stubborn," and added, "It's very difficult to keep faecal and urine traces out of our lives."