The horrifying truth about why you should NEVER use your phone on the toilet
But this common habit can turn your device into a haven for dangerous microorganisms, a scientist warns.
Dr Primrose Freestone, professor of clinical microbiology at the University of Leicester, says fecal bacteria can easily reach your phone in the bathroom.
This includes E. coli, which can result in nasty diarrhea and stomach cramps, and Pseudomonas, which causes infections in the blood and lungs.
Even after you've washed your hands with soap, these bugs can travel back to your hands once you touch your phone again.
As a result, phones should be kept out of the toilet altogether, and regularly sanitized with alcohol wipes.
'The phone will at some point get contaminated, so periodically disinfecting your phone is a good idea,' she told MailOnline.
'My Nokia gets a disinfectant wipe over twice a week.'
When we flush a toilet, a plume of tiny liquid droplets containing bacteria and fecal matter, invisible to the naked eye, is violently ejected.
According to prior research at the University of Colorado Boulder, this so-called 'toilet plume' can travel 5 feet (1.5 metres) in eight seconds.
Therefore, anything that is within five feet of the toilet bowl can become contaminated, whether it's the floor, the wall or a nearby book.
Research also suggests that this dreaded plume still escapes when we've got the toilet lid closed.
As a result, Professor Freestone urges people to keep their phone well away from the toilet, or even better, out of the bathroom entirely.
'Toilet areas adjacent to toilets, because of the toilet spray trajectory, are pretty contaminated,' she told MailOnline.
'It does not matter where you go, there will be faecal bacteria on lots of [bathroom] surfaces.
'So soaps and taps, toilet and wash basin surfaces, door handles, bath mats – the list is long.'
If you're holding your phone while you empty you bowels, putting it on the floor before flushing is one of the worst things you can do.
That's because fecal matter whizzes out of the toilet upon flushing and eventually settles onto the floor.
'The floor around the toilet will – if not disinfected regularly – have traces of faeces with lots gut bacteria, which will stay alive for hours and days,' said Professor Freestone.
'So I would not put your phone on the floor next to the toilet as it is likely to pick up the faeces and the bacteria associated with the waste product.'
Even if you put your phone on another nearby surface, such as the cistern or the nearby windowsill, it could risk contamination too.
Professor Freestone acknowledges it can be hard to be separated from your phone, even for the relatively short time it takes to use the toilet.
In extreme instances – such as not wanting to miss a very important phone call, for example – she suggests keeping it in your pocket for the whole time.
Even though we may not appreciate it, phones are high-touch items particularly at risk of bacterial contamination just like doorknobs, light switches and taps.
Therefore, we should be washing our hands much more often before or after touching them, while also keeping them sanitized, she added.
Using a 70 per cent alcohol wipe or a mild soap and water mixture are good options, but don't submerge it if it's not waterproof, or use harsh chemicals like bleach.
The specialist in home hygiene and food safety has also weighed in on the best way to position your toilet paper.
In the 'over' position, the next square of toilet paper is facing the user, while in the 'under' position, the next square of toilet paper is facing the wall.
Aerosol droplets containing urine, faeces and vomit stay in the air for up to 20 seconds
Tiny droplets carrying traces of urine, faeces, vomit and viruses float into the air at mouth-level after a toilet is flushed, a 2021 study warned.
It showed that tens of thousands of particles are spewed into the air by a flush and can rise several feet above the ground.
Droplets were spotted floating around five feet (1.5m) in the air for more than 20 seconds, with researchers pointing out this poses a risk of inhalation.
Small droplets and aerosols are so light they can float around in the air on tiny draughts, before settling on a surface.
Researchers say that they can also act as vectors for diseases. SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes Covid, for example, has been found alive in human faeces.
Therefore, scientists warn that flush-propelled particles from an infected person's faeces could float into the air, be sucked in by a passer-by, and infect them.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Why thousands of women diagnosed with ADHD could really be suffering from iron deficiency - that can easily be solved by taking this simple supplement
For as long as Josie Heath-Smith can remember, she has suffered from brain fog, fatigue and an inability to concentrate. There were also the 'debilitating' periods of hyper-fixation. Josie, 44, explains: 'I'd swing from being completely unable to focus – at work I'd drift off whenever anyone tried to explain anything – to staying up all night obsessively focused on a single task. It was always something random, like putting up a shelving unit at 4am. With two kids, the cycle left me completely burnt out.'
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
More than 100 NHS doctors warn Wes Streeting to honour promise to roll out screening clinics for osteoporosis - or risk thousands of preventable deaths
More than 100 leading NHS doctors have warned Health Secretary Wes Streeting that failing to honour his pre-Election commitment to urgently rollout screening clinics for osteoporosis risks causing thousands of preventable deaths. In a letter shared exclusively with The Mail on Sunday, the medics and healthcare workers say tens of thousands of people with the bone-thinning disease are 'slipping through the net' because of a postcode lottery of care – and 2,500 may have needlessly died in the last 12 months alone – because of a failure by the Government to prioritise tackling the crisis. Mr Streeting told this newspaper that one of his first acts in Government would be to publish a plan to rollout Fracture Liaison Services, or FLS, across all parts of the country. These vital services, which require no new equipment, represent a gold standard in the early diagnosis of the condition and would mean everyone over 50 who breaks a bone could be screened for the disease and given bone-preserving drugs – potentially saving thousands of people from serious injury, disability and an early death. But a year on from that promise, the Government now says FLS will not be available everywhere until 2030. The Government reiterated its commitment to funding the clinics in its 10-Year Health Plan, published on Thursday, but the doctors say any further delay will cause 'harm' to patients – and say officials have still failed to reveal how they plan to achieve the rollout. The doctors, part of the Royal Osteoporosis Society's clinical network who are backing the charity's campaign for universal FLS, wrote: 'Late diagnosis of osteoporosis leads to avoidable fractures, loss of independence, long-term disability and, in many cases, premature death. 'A properly functioning FLS catches patients after their first fracture, enabling early diagnosis and access to proven, cost-effective treatments. They are a classic example of driving the shift from sickness to prevention. 'However, the current postcode lottery for FLS provision means tens of thousands are slipping through the net. Each year that this remains unaddressed, an estimated 2,500 more people die following hip fractures that could have been prevented. 'Any delay in implementation of this important policy will cost lives.' Shadow Health Secretary Edward Argar also called on Mr Streeting to deliver his pledge 'right away, with no more delays'. Mr Argar said: 'I'm calling on the Health Secretary to set out an action plan with a clear timetable, starting now, for the roll-out of FLS to all areas, something which will not only help thousands of people with osteoporosis but will also be saving the NHS money within a few years.' Osteoporosis affects around 3.5million people in the UK and causes bones to thin and weaken, leading to fractures. Most people are only diagnosed after breaking several bones, but in hospitals which have FLS, patients attending with fractures can be screened for osteoporosis with a bone density test called a DEXA scan. Only half of NHS Trusts in England currently have FLS, and rolling it out is estimated to cost £30million. Osteoporosis-related fractures have cost the British economy more than £142million since last July. The Mail on Sunday has been running a War on Osteoporosis campaign to make FLS universal. Craig Jones, chief executive of the Royal Osteoporosis Society, said: 'This is a preventative model that's tried and tested, ready to go, and capable of delivering savings before the middle of this Parliament. 'We welcome inclusion in the 10 Year Plan and now call for a speedy implementation plan so we can protect patients and save lives.'
Times
4 hours ago
- Times
When you're touched by our stories, you give generously. Thank you
It was a normal Sunday morning in March and Alice Shaw, 41, from Guildford, Surrey, was scrolling through her Sunday Times app, when she clicked on an article by the journalist James Coney about his son Charlie and his family's struggle to find a diagnosis for Charlie's rare condition. 'It was completely gripping, really. I just felt it gave an amazing viewpoint,' says Shaw. Charlie was eventually diagnosed with ReNU syndrome and is supported by the charity Challengers, which is a playgroup for disabled children. • My son Charlie — and the breakthrough that changed our lives The article struck a chord with Shaw, who is a mother of two boys, one of whom is deaf. 'I gave Challengers a call and said, 'Can I fundraise for you?'' she says. 'They welcomed me with open arms.' Shaw already had a place to run the London Marathon, and quickly managed to fundraise £1,400 for Challengers, a Guildford-based charity she said she had passed many times without knowing what it did. 'They really brought me into their fundraising fold.' Shaw's generosity is not unique. Our journalists receive dozens of emails and messages from readers touched by stories in The Sunday Times. Many go on to donate significant sums to the causes highlighted by our journalism. Today, we are sharing some of these stories. In April, we covered the marathon challenge of Leodhais Macpherson, whose aim was to run a marathon a day, every day for 128 days — the distance from Newcastle to New York — in memory of his brother, who took his own life. He was raising money for the mental health charity If U Care Share and the RNLI. Readers flooded his Just Giving page to donate. Macpherson says, 'You could see the immediate impact from the moment the article was published — it made a massive difference.' In just 24 hours, his donation page received £5,000, including two donations of £500 from Sunday Times readers. A Sunday Times reader, Karen Korn, was among the top donors, giving £500. 'I've just read the article in The Sunday Times and was so moved by it,' she wrote. 'Good luck to you — you'll make it! I'm sure.' One reader named Mike, who donated £100 the day after the article was published, wrote, 'I lost my twin brother to suicide almost 20 years ago, seeing you do this is hard but I'm proud of you. I support you. You are not alone. Thank you.' Macpherson, 24, completed his challenge on June 2, which would have been his brother's 28th birthday and raised £55,513. He proposed to his fiancée on the finish line. Like most newspapers, The Times and Sunday Times hold an annual Christmas appeal for readers to donate to chosen charities. But throughout the year, these spontaneous bursts of generosity emerge in response to stories of individuals struggling courageously through tragedy and tribulation. In February, The Sunday Times highlighted the plight of Siobhan Halliwell who is forced to sleep on the floor, propped up against a wall or a chest of drawers, most nights because she doesn't have the medical bed she needs. The 26-year-old and her brother were left disabled by the drug sodium valproate, which their mother took during pregnancy. We are campaigning for victims to have compensation so that equipment such as the beds Siobhan needs can be provided without delay. Following that story in February, three Sunday Times readers, one from as far away as South Africa, contacted the paper offering to fund the cost of both beds. Two were successful business owners, and one was motivated by the memory of a sister who had also needed care. One, who wished to remain anonymous, said: 'It should be the responsibility of the NHS but reading the article it was clear the family needed help now and I was in a position to do it. I was very happy to do so.' Although the readers chose to remain anonymous they were keen to support the Halliwells and two went ahead to donate the full £5,000 cost for the beds to be provided privately. 'We feel extremely grateful to the people who donated,' says Siobhan's mother, Paula Halliwell. 'Being able to get our children their beds will make a huge difference to their lives. There is also some money left over to get Siobhan a four-wheeled walker, which she needs to help her get out due to her increased difficulties.' On June 1, we also featured the story of Teddington-based non-profit Mighty Convoy, which delivers ambulances filled with medical aid from London to Ukraine, driven there by hardy volunteers. 'The reaction to The Sunday Times article was phenomenal, even before my paper had landed through my letterbox I had messages coming in because people had seen it online,' says Simon Brake, the founder of Mighty Convoy. 'I reckon in the first 24 hours we had 25 people contact us to say they were really interested in driving.' Also within the first 24 hours, Brake says they received £8,000 in direct donations. 'It was an overwhelming response,' he says. 'We're now over £20,000 and have had over 40 emails or inquiries. It's been amazing.' The money donated by readers will pay for three ambulances, which Brake is in the process of securing for future convoys to Ukraine. Brake says that the chance to help a local, small non-profit like Mighty Convoy is part of the appeal for readers and has cropped up in several emails from Sunday Times readers. 'People have donated to some of the bigger Ukraine charities, but the idea that they could actually do something directly: fundraise from their network and drive the vehicle and take it to Ukraine — I think has inspired a lot of people.' Shaw, too, says that Challengers being 'a small local charity that doesn't always get exposure' drove her to help. 'Isn't it great?' says Shaw. 'You think most people would just read and move on. But it really does have an impact.'
