Beware of Flu Germs on Touch-Screen Devices

(CANVAS STAFF REPORTS) - Here's an app that's desperately needed for personal touch-screen devices: one that kills germs.

Studies reveal that iPads, iPhones, Droids, Blackberrys and the like are high-tech germ carriers, and especially potent when shared or tried in stores.

In fact, British researchers have found that mobile phones can carry 18 times more bacteria than a flush handle in a typical men's restroom, reported The Sacramento Bee .

"If you're sharing the device, then you're sharing your influenza with someone else who touches it," said Timothy Julian, a Stanford University doctoral student who co-authored a study on the spread of viruses.

Not exactly what makers of these ubiquitous devices want to hear at the onset of flu season.

"If you put virus on a surface, like an iPhone, about 30 percent of it will get on your fingertips," Julian said. "A fair amount of it may go from your fingers to your eyes, mouth or nose," the most likely routes of infection.

The New York Daily News tested some iPads at stores and found microbes including Staphylococcus aureus, the most common cause of staph infections, and Corynebacterium minutissimum, a bacteria commonly associated with skin rash.

What to do? Don't look to the iPad manual. The document warns against using "window cleaners, household cleaners, aerosol sprays, solvents, alcohol, ammonia, or abrasives" to clean the device. The manual does recommend wiping the screen with a "slightly damp, lint-free cloth" to "remove oil left by your hands."

To kill germs that accumulate on touch screens, the Monster CleanTouch for iPad could be the answer.

The kit includes a 20-ml spray bottle, a 6-by-6-inch cloth and a carrying pouch. Pad Gadget reported that the solution is free of alcohol and ammonia, so it won't harm delicate screen coatings.

The spray removes fingerprints and smudges and leaves a microthin coating on the screen to resist future buildup and prevent scratches.

But the best benefit is probably that the microfiber cloth helps rid a touch screen of up to 99.9 percent of bacteria and control the spread of germs, according to Pad Gadget.