Posted on 10/19/2011 11:21:51 AM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
FRIDAY, Oct. 14 (HealthDay News) -- One in six cellphones in Britain may be contaminated with fecal matter that can spread E. coli, likely because so many people don't wash their hands properly after using the toilet, a new study contends.
The findings also suggest that many people lie about their hygiene habits, according to the researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Queen Mary, University of London.
The study authors went to 12 cities and collected 390 samples from the cellphones and hands of volunteers, who were also asked about their hand-washing habits.
Ninety-five percent of the participants told the researchers that they washed their hands with soap and water where possible. However, lab tests revealed that 92 percent of phones and 82 percent of hands had bacteria on them. The researchers also found that 16 percent of hands and 16 percent of cellphones harbored E. coli bacteria, which is found in feces and can cause serious illness.
The study was released to coincide with Global Handwashing Day on Oct. 15.
(Excerpt) Read more at gma.yahoo.com ...
Just wipe your phone off people.
I can’t believe it. I’m mean, really. Wasn’t the Earth settled in part, by a large group of telephone sanitizers? /douglas adams
I have begun to do the same thing. Not quite a fanatic about cleanliness but really try to pay attention to it.
We were taught good hygiene by both our parents and I have always done the normal things but since always using the disinfecting towels at the front of most stores to clean the handles of shopping carts, doing the same as you suggest if using a public toilet and not just washing my hands but washing thoroughly has paid off.
I no longer seem to come down with a cold etc. like I used to. My late wife was also very good about cleanliness.
So are 100% of the handrails on escalators
You are quite right. I use the same methods in restrooms, when I can.
However, my post was referencing door handles in general, not just bathroom door handles. When was the last time you saw someone cleaning the door handles?
Same goes for stair rails and any other surfaces multitudes of people touch.
Especially in SF!
It’s not just poor hygiene, it’s in the air of your house.
That’s what immune systems are for.
Considering how reluctant the Brits seem to be to keep their teeth clean, it isn’t hard to imagine how much worse they are about the OTHER end of the system!
It’s not just the guys but the gals who don’t wash afterward. There should be trash cans near the doors so we can pitch our paper towels. Call me a litterer but I leave mine in the floor if there isn’t a trash can.
Naw, that isn’t it. They all have their heads up their arses and so the phones are necessarily contaminated when they hold it to their ears.
Potty mouth?
“The study was released to coincide with Global Handwashing Day on Oct. 15.”
Every day is Global Handwashing Day(or at least should be).
The phones must really smell nice too. ;-)
If the urinal flushes automatically and you’ve showered in the morning, during the day when you go to pee, wouldn’t your unit really be cleaner than your hands?
I believe the general level of hygiene has declined in the last 50-60 years. When I was in grammar school I never heard of anyone having lice. Now I regularly see treatments for sale, advertised etc.
It might have something to do with the Hippie movement, maybe so many illegals. Maybe the fact that so many diseases can be cured that people don’t have to be as careful.
My guess would be the 50’s was probably the cleanest period in our history.
Michael Berry is talking about this and had the clip of Anderson Cooper being told about it.
My thoughts exactly. Theirs is a whole 'nother culture.
I urge you to volunteer for that experiment. (chuckle)
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