iPhones and touchscreens transfer viruses

[jodiemiller]

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/iphone_virus_SOuLzw3NeR8UTmCxRwwFUN



An iPhone (http://www.nypost.com/t/iPhone)can get more germ-infested than a toilet in a subway bathroom, according to new research.
In fact, the glass touch screens on mobile devices are so good at spreading viruses that sharing them may be almost as bad as sneezing in someone's face, a study published in the Journal of Microbial Biology found.
"If you're sharing the device, then you're sharing your influenza with someone else who touches it," Timothy Julian, a Stanford University (http://www.nypost.com/t/Stanford_University)doctoral student who co-authored the study, told the Sacramento Bee.
"If you put virus on a surface, like an iPhone, about 30 percent of it will get on your fingertips," Julian said.

[Phoenix]

sharing them may be almost as bad as sneezing in someone's face
Gross, but not surprising.

[michelle_j_r]

i don't share my iPhone with anyone that does not already sneeze in my face.

[jodiemiller]

Haha! I like it Chelle. :)

[Rinelle]

LOL. Yeah, I'm the same as Chelle. :)

[lucylu]

ewww...

on the other hand, good for immunity building!

[Mercurious]

Iphones usually don't have that many users....As opposed to those nice shopping trolleys. Seriously if they are going to put out a warning about this they should test and put out a warning on those up/down buttons in elevators, or the hand rails on escalators. Or money.

[cherish]

I am often astounded at the research that goes on.. surely there is something more worthy to invest money in...

how is an iphone different to any other phone- in that you touch buttons on other phones... I guess more children steal their parents iphones to play games etc etc.. anyway..

[mama_bel]

Ha! Pens at counters in bank/Post Office, door handles, anything in a doctor's surgery that you touch (door, chair, pen, counter), public phone handsets (for those without an iphone!), escalators, elevator buttons, trolleys and supermarket-anything - I'm sure there's germs lurking just about everywhere. :p

[Pinky]

i don't share my iPhone with anyone that does not already sneeze in my face.

LOL I was going to say something similar... so true.

[Pinky]

but it is the same as our computer keyboards or any surface we touch often. and we don't usually lend our iPads or iPhones to anyone that isn't in our immediate family anyway - and they touch all the same surface we touch daily anyway. Not really "shocking".

[SungaiKecil]

I call bullshit on this. Recently in a lab for a microbiology class I was in we did blood agar slides and did them on things like under our fingernails/mouths/phone screens etc and my iphone screen (2 years old) and the bacterial growth on it was nothing special or interesting or especially horrifying. Under your nails is FAR worse.

[jodiemiller]

Great to see you, B! Thanks for chiming in.

Hey, I knew this was spin, but that's why it's fun to post it. :)

[SungaiKecil]

Oh for sure Jodes... it's another one of them 'Today Tonight' things really haha.

I pop in and out when I get time ... or am avoiding an assignment ;).

[Harmony]

i don't share my iPhone with anyone that does not already sneeze in my face. I was thinking almost exactly this before I read it :2lol

I don't know how I missed this thread, I've just taken the time to go past page 2 of New Posts and found several that I missed! Oh der, it was the weekend we were away :blushing

[Madi]

I think all phones are pretty gross.... lots of touching and spit involved. Not to mention ears! :2lol

[jodiemiller]

Yeah, and people use them in public toilets without conscience!

[Nyree]

I was watching some doco on the ABC recently that showed computer keyboards had more germs than your average toilet. I'm not dead yet ;)