The New Cell Phone Threat: Staph Infection

We've warned you about mobile viruses before. We just didn't know how bad they were. According to a new study, it's not just malware we have to worry about, but physical viruses (virii?), like MRSA. The highly dangerous bacteria infection is traveling (and potentially spreading) via hospital staff phones.



According to the study from the Faculty of Medicine at the Ondokuz Mayis University, Turkey, nearly 95% of doctor/nurse phones are contaminated with various bacteria, and only 10% of them regularly clean their phones. This equates to the vast majority of hospital staff carrying around potential staph infections.

Commonly known as a particularly virulent strain of staph infection, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is a superbug caused by nosocomial pathogens (not to be confused with non-social pathogens, which don't use cellphones).

So basically, doctors and nurses could be carrying around deadly germs on their cellphones. Not surpisingly, since I don't even work at a hospital and I can only imagine what sort of crazy pathogens are lurking on my relatively sanitary phone. Think about that next time you place that handset up to your face.

Note to self: don't borrow Doctor's cell phone, and try to work in "Rx messaging" in conversation.

Be sure to check out the full study. Or if you're looking for some lighter, less germophobia-inducing reading material, try some other tech news:

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