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Cell Phone Swab Samples

Hi Everyone!
Thanks for participating in our Halloween fun!

How Creepy is your Cell Phone?
We sampled cell phones and we looked at total aerobic bacterial counts and Coliform/E. coli. We found that 91% of our cell phones samples had aerobic bacterial growth, 96% of those were heavy growth, too numerous to count (TNTC). We found that 36% of our cell phone samples had E. coli/Coliform bacteria present, 89% of those were heavy growth, TNTC.

What's that Goo on your Shoe?
Additionally, we sampled the bottom of shoes and we looked for Carbapenem resistant Gram – negative bacteria, 3rd generation Cephalosporin (Ceftiofur) resistant Gram – negative bacteria, Salmonella, and Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus spp. We found that 16% of the shoe samples were positive for Carbapenem-resistant Gram – negative bacteria, 12% were positive for 3rd generation Cephalosporin (Ceftiofur) resistant Gram – negative bacteria. We didn’t find any Salmonella or Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus spp. on our shoe samples.

The take home message from the ASP team…
Bacteria are everywhere and it is no surprise they hang out on our phones, but maybe before the next text message or your next glance at a TikTok video, take a second to wipe that phone down and maybe think about some hand sanitizer or some soap and water. Oh, and those work shoes you’re probably wearing right now, maybe they should stay at work to prevent taking these bugs with you.

Download summary and additional information

How Creepy is your Phone?

Type in your Sample ID and click the button to see your test results.