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GOLD COAST, Australia: There are billions of mobile phones in use worldwide. They are present on all continents, countries and cities.
We review research on how mobile phones carry infectious pathogens such as bacteria and viruses, and believe that they are likely to be “Trojan horses” that contribute to community transmission in epidemics and pandemics.
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This transfer of pathogens in mobile phones poses a serious health problem. The risk is that infectious pathogens can be spread via phones within the community, in workplaces, including medical and food handling environments, and on public transportation, cruise ships, and airplanes.
Currently, mobile phones are largely neglected from a biosecurity perspective, but they are likely to help the spread of viruses like the flu and SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.
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WHAT THE INVESTIGATION SHOWS
We reviewed all the studies we could find in peer-reviewed journals that looked at the microbes found on mobile phones. Our findings are published in the Journal of Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease.
There were 56 studies that met our criteria, conducted in 24 countries around the world between 2005 and 2019. Most of the studies looked at bacteria found on phones, and several also looked at fungi.
Overall, studies found that an average of 68 percent of mobile phones were contaminated. This number is likely to be less than the actual value, as most studies aimed to identify only bacteria and, in many cases, only specific types of bacteria.
All studies were completed before the advent of SARS-CoV-2, so none of them was able to test it. Virus screening is laborious, and we could find only one study that did test them (specifically for RNA viruses, a group that includes SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses).
FILE PHOTO: Medical personnel administer tests for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the Bondi Beach Transit Test Center in Sydney, Australia on April 7, 2020. REUTERS / Loren Elliott
Some studies compared the phones of health workers and those of the general public. They found no significant difference between the levels of contamination.
BIOSAFETY RISK
Contaminated mobile phones pose a real biosecurity risk, allowing pathogens to easily cross borders.
Viruses can live on surfaces for hours to days or weeks. If a person is infected with coronavirus, it is very likely that their mobile phone is contaminated. The virus can spread from the phone to other people through direct or indirect contact.
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Mobile phones and other touchscreen systems, such as at airport check-in desks and in-flight entertainment displays, may have contributed to the rapid spread of COVID-19 worldwide.
Telephones are almost ideal carriers of disease. We talk to them regularly, dropping microbes through drops. We often have them with us while we eat, leading to the reservoir of nutrients that help microbes thrive.
Many people use them in toilets and on the toilet, leading to fecal contamination through the feather effect.
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And while phones are exposed to microbes, most of us take them almost everywhere – at home, at work, shopping, on vacation. They often provide a temperature controlled environment that helps pathogens survive, as they are carried in pockets or handbags and are rarely switched off.
In addition to this, we rarely clean or disinfect them. Our (unpublished) data suggests that nearly three-quarters of people have never cleaned their phones.
CLEAN YOUR PHONE
While government agencies provide guidelines on basic practices for effective hand hygiene, there is little focus on the practices associated with the use of mobile phones or other touch screen devices.
People touch their mobile phones on average for three hours a day, and superusers touch phones more than 5,000 times a day. Unlike hands, mobile devices are not washed regularly.
(Photo: Pexels / Picjumbo.com)
We advise public health authorities to implement public awareness campaigns and other appropriate measures to encourage disinfection of mobile phones and other touch screen devices. Without this effort, the global public health campaign for handwashing could be less effective.
Our recommendation is that mobile phones and other touch screen devices be decontaminated daily, using a 70 percent isopropyl alcohol spray or other disinfection method.
These decontamination processes must be applied especially in key service industries, such as in food handling businesses, schools, bars, coffee shops, senior centers, cruises, airlines and airports, medical care. We should do this all the time, but particularly during a serious disease outbreak like the current COVID-19 pandemic.
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Lotti Tajouri is an associate professor of biomedical science at Bond University. Mariana Campos is a professor and researcher at Murdoch University. Rashed Alghafri is an honorary adjunct adjunct professor at Bond University. Simon McKirdy is a professor of biosecurity at Murdoch University.
This comment first appeared in The Conversation.
