Trying to avoid the flu? Clean your cell phone - 14 News, WFIE, Evansville, Henderson, Owensboro

Trying to avoid the flu? Clean your cell phone

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TRI-STATE (WFIE) -

The flu seems it hasn't given up yet this season, and there are many surfaces where the virus can live. One of those surfaces that gets a lot of interaction these days is our cell phone.

It's a perfect place to pass on the flu bug, and nowadays people pass their smart phones around to show pictures, videos, and websites.

Experts say that the virus can live on your phone for up to 48 hours, and that means we are subjecting ourselves to the risk of infection multiple times a day. 

"It would be really nice if we could look at our cell phones and see all of those germs and say, oh, I really need to do something like clean it off, but we're fighting an invisible enemy," said Mellodee Montgomery, Infection Prevention - Deaconess Health System. "Therefore we cannot see them, and if we have them on our hands, our hands, lots of germs, and they go lots of places," she said.

Experts suggest contacting your cell phone provider to ask them the safest way to clean your phone without damaging it or voiding your warranty and washing your hands is still the best way to beat the bug. 

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