A new UK study has found mobile phones are covered with up to 18 times more living bacteria than the flush handle on a men's lavatory.
An analysis of 30 phones by Which? magazine found that almost a quarter were so dirty that they had up to ten times an acceptable level of TVC bacteria.ne 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 of the study suggest that 14.7 million of the 63 million mobiles in use in the UK today could be potential health hazards.
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.
"Most phones didn't have any immediately harmful bacteria that would make you sick straight away but they were grubbier than they could be," the Daily Mail quoted Which? researcher Ceri Stanaway as saying.