The average handset carries 18 times more potentially harmful germs than a flush handle in a men's toilet, tests have revealed.
They are pretty much essential, but you may want to ditch your mobile phone for ever after reading this.
The average handset carries 18 times more potentially harmful germs than a flush handle in a men's toilet, tests have revealed.
An analysis of handsets found almost a quarter were so dirty that they had up to ten times an acceptable level of TVC bacteria.
One of the phones in the test had such high levels of bacteria it could have given its owner a serious stomach upset.
While TVC is not immediately harmful, elevated levels indicate poor personal hygiene and act as a breeding ground for other bugs.
The findings from a sample of 30 phones by Which? magazine suggest 14.7 million of the 63 million mobiles in use in the UK today could be potential health hazards.
Hygiene expert Jim Francis, who carried out the tests, said: 'The levels of potentially harmful bacteria on one mobile were off the scale. That phone needs sterilising.'
The most unhygienic phone had more than ten times the acceptable level of TVC and seven were above the threshold.
This worst handset also had 39 times the safe level of enterobacteria, a group of bacteria that live in the lower intestines of humans and animals and include bugs such as Salmonella.
It boasted 170 times the acceptable level of faecal coliforms, which are associated with human waste.
Other bacteria including food poisoning bugs e.coli and staphylococcus aureus were found on the phones but at safe levels.
Which? researcher Ceri Stanaway said: 'Most phones didn't have any immediately harmful bacteria that would make you sick straight away but they were grubbier than they could be.
手机在我们的生活中不可或缺，但你在看完这篇文章后可能永远也不想用手机了。
有关检测表明，一个普通手机上所携带的有害细菌量是男厕所一个冲厕手柄所携带细菌量的18倍。
一项对手机的研究分析发现，近四分之一的手机十分肮脏，所携带的细菌量高达可接受细菌安全值的十倍。
其中一只受测手机细菌携带量十分之高，足以导致使用者出现严重腹痛症状。
尽管这些细菌不会立刻让人得病，但手机上携带的细菌量如此之高说明人们的卫生习惯堪忧，而且这也会成为其他细菌滋生的土壤。
这项由英国《哪个？》杂志开展的研究共抽样检测了30个手机。调查表明，现在英国人使用的6300万只手机中有1470万只手机存在健康隐患。
对这些手机进行检测的卫生专家吉姆•弗朗西斯说：“一个手机上所携带的有害细菌量超出了可接受的范围。这个手机需要消消毒了。”
最脏的手机所携带的细菌量是可接受值的十倍多，另外有七只手机的细菌量超标。
此外，这只最脏的手机所携带的肠杆菌量是安全值的39倍。肠杆菌是存活于人体和动物小肠内的细菌，如沙门氏杆菌。
这只手机所携带的粪大肠菌是可接受值的170倍。粪大肠菌是一种存在于人体粪便中的细菌。
在手机上发现的细菌还包括可引起食物中毒的大肠杆菌和黄金葡萄球菌，不过这些细菌的量都在安全范围值以内。
《哪个？》杂志的研究人员赛莉•斯坦阿维说：“大部分手机所携带的细菌不会立刻让你生病，但它们可比想象中的要脏多了。”
ditch: to get rid of something/somebody because you no longer want or need it/them（摆脱；抛弃；丢弃）
flush handle: 马桶按键，冲厕手柄
TVC: 细菌总量
grubby: rather dirty, usually because it has not been washed or cleaned（肮脏的；邋遢的；污秽的）