Is your mobile phone a potential health risk, and does keeping your hands clean reduce this risk?

In hospitals, it has been reported that MRSA can be found on the mobile phones of staff. As part of this year's "Global Handwashing Day" initiative, over the summer researchers are sampling the mobile phones and hands of participating members of the public, all over the UK. They hope to establish the most common bacteria found on mobile phones (excluding healthcare settings), whether these bacteria are related to users' hands and hand washing practices and whether the type of bacteria isolated varies according to geographical location.

They will be looking for environmental bacteria, general skin bacteria and any bacteria that may pose a health risk. They will present the findings on Global Handwashing Day, 15 October 2011.

This project is a collaboration between the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and is supported by the Wellcome Trust as part of the Dirt Season.