Get your tongue off that cellphone! It’s covered in bacteria

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Is this bacteria on your phone? Credit: kaibara87 via Flickr

Well, it’s official. It’s probably not a good idea to lick your cellphone.

Those of you who are paused in mid-lick, angrily wondering what kind of scientific data we have to back this up, beware: a consultant over at KTLA found that 10 out of 11 phones in its newsroom had bacteria all over them.

OK, OK, maybe you like bacteria. But the consultant, Dennis Ironi, found enough staphylococcus, micrococcus and bacillus to potentially make you sick. All three are rather nasty-looking under a microscope, and species of each can cause food poisoning and other illnesses.

Ironi says the bacteria are often transmitted when you let other people use your phone, because obviously other people are less clean that you are.

According to KTLA, a recent study in Britain found that cellphones were dirtier, germ-wise, than toilets and the bottom of your shoe. (Just to be safe, you probably shouldn’t lick the toilet or the bottom of your shoe either.)

And if you’re going to start licking your keyboard now that cellphones, shoes and toilets are off limits, just know that environmental expert Michael Andrew says that you touch about 10 million bacteria every time you put your hands on your desk. So don’t lick that either.

-- Alana Semuels