Disinfecting your phone daily could help stop diseases from spreading

by Lotti Tajouri, Mariana Campos, Rashed Alghafri and Simon McKirdy, The Conversation

Credit: shutterstock

There are billions of mobile phones in use around the globe. They are present on every single continent, in every single country and in every single city.

02 may 2020--We reviewed the research on how mobile phones carry infectious pathogens such as bacteria and viruses, and we believe they are likely to be "Trojan horses" that contribute to community transmission in epidemics and pandemics.

This transfer of pathogens on mobile phones poses a serious health concern. The risk is that infectious pathogens may be spreading via phones within the community, in workplaces including medical and food-handling settings, and in public transport, cruise ships and airplanes.

Currently mobile phones are largely neglected from a biosecurity perspective, but they are likely to assist the spread of viruses such as influenza and SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.

What the research shows

We reviewed all the studies we could find in peer-reviewed journals that analysed microbes found on mobile phones. Our conclusions 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, the studies found an average of 68% of mobile phones were contaminated. This number is likely to be lower than the real value, as most of the studies aimed to identify only bacteria and, in many cases, only specific types of bacteria.

The studies were all completed before the advent of SARS-CoV-2, so none of them could test for it. Testing for viruses is laborious, and we could find only one study that did test for them (specifically for RNA viruses, a group that includes SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses).

Some studies compared the phones of healthcare workers and those of the general public. They found no significant differences between levels of contamination.

What this means for health and biosecurity

Contaminated mobile phones pose a real biosecurity risk, allowing pathogens to cross borders easily.

Viruses can live on surfaces from hours to days to weeks. If a person is infected with SARS-CoV-2, it is very likely their mobile phone will be contaminated. The virus may then spread from the phone to further individuals by direct or indirect contact.

Mobile phones and other touchscreen systems—such as at airport check-in counters and in-flight entertainment screens—may have contributed to the rapid spread of COVID-19 around the globe.

Why phones are so often contaminated

Phones are almost ideal carriers of disease. We speak into them regularly, depositing microbes via droplets. We often have them with us while we eat, leading to the deposit of nutrients that help microbes thrive. Many people use them in bathrooms and on the toilet, leading to faecal contamination via the plume effect.

And although phones are exposed to microbes, most of us carry them almost everywhere: at home, at work, while shopping, on holidays. They often provide a temperature-controlled environment that helps pathogens survive, as they are carried in pockets or handbags and are rarely switched off.

On top of this, we rarely clean or disinfect them. Our (unpublished) data suggests almost three-quarters of people have never cleaned their phone at all.

What this means: clean your phone

While government agencies are providing guidelines on the core practices for effective hand hygiene, there is little focus on practices associated with the use of mobile phones or other touch screen devices.

People touch their mobile phones on average for three hours every day, with super-users touching phones more than 5,000 times a day. Unlike hands, mobile devices are not regularly washed.

We advise public health authorities to implement public awareness campaigns and other appropriate measures to encourage disinfection for mobile phones and other touch screen devices. Without this effort, the global public health campaign for hand washing could be less effective.

Our recommendation is that mobile phones and other touch screen devices should be decontaminated daily, using a 70% isopropyl alcohol spray or other disinfection method.

These decontamination processes should be enforced especially in key servicing industries, such as in food-handling businesses, schools, bars, cafes, aged-care facilities, cruise ships, airlines and airports, healthcare. We should do this all the time, but particularly during a serious disease outbreak like the current COVID-19 pandemic.

---

More information: Matthew Olsen et al, Mobile phones represent a pathway for microbial transmission: A scoping review, Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.tmaid.2020.101704

Provided by The Conversation 

Mobile phones could carry end-of-life care wishes

Storing and creating advanced care directives on mobile phones would give doctors easier access to end-of-life care wishes. Credit: shutterstock.com

Mobile phones should be used to express and store our end-of-life medical care preferences, experts say.

14 april 2013--Advance care directives (ACDs) are legal documents that allow people to detail the quality of life they are prepared to accept when in a coma, terminally ill, or no longer able to speak for themselves.

But few Australians have ACDs and those who do rarely carry them, meaning clinicians are unable to access the patient's wishes in life threatening medical situations.

Ms Margaret Brown, research fellow at the University of South Australia's Hawke Research Institute, said mobile phones may provide an answer.

"The key benefit would be, that it is something you have on you or close to you, and its not stored in a shoe box under the bed where nobody knows its there," Ms Brown said.

A further potential benefit of using mobile phones in the creation of these ACDs is that it may allow the documents to be more readily altered.

"The important thing about any sort of electronic record, is that it must be on the person rather than on the computer because if the person decides they want to make a change to their direction, to their wishes, reappoint somebody because there has been a conflict in the family, they have to be able to change it," Ms Brown said.

Professor Kenneth Hillman, Professor of Intensive Care, University of New South Wales said storing and creating ACDs on mobile phones made a lot of sense.

"It is not just having your wishes recorded, it is making sure that your wishes are conveyed to everyone. It is important that the app or information is available to your general practitioner and family," Professor Hillman said

"For younger people it might even be able to be tied up with, and financially supported by, the big move to make Australians aware of the possibilities of their organs being donated, so the two things could go hand in hand."

But the idea is still in early stages, with many potential hurdles to overcome.

"Many of the people we are talking about are in their 70s, 80s, and 90s now, and they may not have ready access to mobile phone technologies," Professor Hillman said.

Professor Colleen Cartwright, Foundation Professor of Aged Services and Director of the ASLaRC Aged Services Unit, Southern Cross University, echoed this view and said a lack of uniformity in state laws, the need for the documents to be witnessed, and the potential privacy considerations would all need to be addressed before the technology could be put to use.

"How do you make sure it is not the [person's] children who alter it rather than the person themselves; how are you going to provide the security?" Professor Cartwright said.

Ms Brown also acknowledged these hurdles but said the idea warranted further investigation.

Source: The Conversation

Mobile Phone Use Unrelated to Increased Glioma Risk

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Mar 23 - While mobile phone use does not appear to be associated with an increased risk of glioma, according to a new study, the intense use of these phones over many years may change the association and promote the growth of malignant brain tumors.
"Public concern has been expressed about the possible adverse health effects of mobile telephones, mainly related to intracranial tumors," Dr. Anna Lahkola, of the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, Helsinki, and colleagues write in the April 15th issue of the International Journal of Cancer.
In a population-based, case-control study, the researchers examined the relationship between mobile phone use and risk of glioma. The study was carried out in Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and England between 2000 and 2004. Included were 1521 glioma patients and 3301 controls. Information on mobile phone use was collected using personal interviews.
Overall, 92% (1389) of cases and 94% (2945) of controls reported ever using a mobile phone. The investigators found no evidence of increased glioma risk related to regular mobile phone use (odds ratio = 0.78).
There were no significant associations observed with duration of use, years since first use, cumulative number of calls, or cumulative hours of use. When the team examined the linear trend, the OR for cumulative hours of use was 1.006 per 100 hours. There was also no relationship between glioma and years of use or number of calls.