Dr Michael Oguntoye, a Public Health Physician, has warned that mobile phones can serve as a medium to transmit diseases and infections if it comes in contact with body fluids of an infected person. Oguntoye told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that mobile phones are “fomites” which could serve as channel of transmitting viral organism, causing diseases and infections on people. The publice health physician described fomites as any non-living object or substance capable of carrying infectious organisms, such as viruses or bacteria. “Taking a cell phone into the bathroom and then leaving with it, can carry diseases and germs, especially when you do not wash your hands and then coming out,” he said. Oguntoye, who is an epidemiologist with Kwara Ministry of Health, advised people to keep their phones away from the toilet and observe personal hygiene such as hand washing at all times. Speaking further, he recommended cleaning of phones with disinfectant that would not harm the phones.
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