OMG! Do you know how dirty your phone is?

In my Environmental Microbiology lecture early this week, my very interesting professor shared with us about microorganisms. 

For your information: microorganisms are living organisms that are too small to be seen by the naked eye and some of the examples include bacteria, viruses, fungi etc. Many of these microorganisms can cause infectious diseases like malaria and tuberculosis while on the other hand, some of them are also responsible for the makings of bread and beer!

Just to sidetrack a little. My professor cracked a joke about fungi and he said "I am not a fun guy, are you a fun guy?". I giggled like a silly kid. 

How dirty is your phone experiment

He went on to do a live experiment with the phones of a few of my classmates. He used a cotton swab and swiped the surfaces of the phones and then swiped the agar plates that he had prepared. The reason for doing this was to show us the amount of microorganisms present on our phones. In reality, they are present everywhere in our environment but we are unable to see them with our naked eyes. By growing the microorganisms in the agar plates which has all the nutrients for the growth of these tiny creatures, we would be able to see them more clearly. It would take about a week for their growth to be quantified and I would then update my blog with pictures if possible. 

Take a look at this video that my professor shared with us in class first to understand better:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lmwbBzClAc

Some of the learning points of this video include:

1. Do not borrow someone else's phone or lend your phone to others to reduce being infected with transmittable diseases. (Of course, who would really heed this except those who are really careful right?)
2. Use alcohol wipes or anti-bacteria wipes to clean your phone frequently to prevent accumulation of microorganisms.