Bacteria multiply 5 times after wearing earphones for 1 hour

In ear earphones are more susceptible to bacteria than earplug earphones. After wearing the earphone for one hour, the bacteria multiplied nearly five times; After wearing earplug earphones for one hour, the bacteria multiplied nearly three times.

Recently, Mr. Zhao, a citizen of Nanchang, called this newspaper to say that earphones are a hotbed of bacteria. Once you wear earphones, the air in your ears is difficult to circulate, and the temperature will rise accordingly. As a result, bacteria on the surface of earplugs will multiply rapidly, which is not conducive to ear health. Mr. Zhao wants to know whether this rumor is true? To this end, our reporter conducted an experiment.

most citizens have never cleaned their headphones.

Before the experiment, the reporter conducted a random interview on the streets of Nanchang. Ms. Li, a citizen, told the reporter that she likes listening to music with earphones and uses them very frequently, but she has never cleaned the earphones. “There should not be many bacteria.”

Mr. Zhang, a citizen, also said that he had never cleaned the earplugs. “Anyway, the earplugs are for my own use. They should not be too dirty, so I don’t think it’s necessary.” However, Mr. Zhang also asked: “if I want to clean up, how should I clean it up? Clean water or special disinfectant?”

Similar questions exist among most citizens interviewed by reporters at random. Only a few citizens said that if they saw dirty things on the headphones, they would wipe them with paper towels or wet wipes, but they did not have the habit of cleaning them specially.

in ear earphones are more likely to harbor bacteria than earplug earphones.

Experimental props: three pairs of used earphones, one ear earplug type is No. 1, two ear in ear type is No. 2, and two ear earplug type is No. 3.

Experimental tools: sterile normal saline, sterile straws, sterile Petri dishes, medical sterile cotton swabs, etc

Experimenter: Ying Yan, laboratory of Nanchang Xihu District CDC (Note: the results of this experiment are only responsible for this experiment)

in ear earphones can enter the external auditory canal

The reporter sent Mr. Zhao’s three sets of earphones to the laboratory of the West Lake District CDC. Among them, two earplug earphones were stuck in the inner ear wheel and would not penetrate into the external ear canal when used; While the other pair of in ear earphones can directly extend into the external auditory canal and contact the skin on the auditory canal. Which earphone hides more bacteria? Words have no basis, but experiments prove it.

The experimenter should first disinfect the No. 1 earphone, then smear and sample the earphone with a cotton swab, put the cotton swab into the test tube, inject 10ml of sterile physiological saline with a concentration of 0.9% into the test tube, and shake it, so that the bacteria on the cotton swab can be evenly mixed in the physiological saline. After that, the experimenter took 1 ml of solution from the test tube, poured it onto the sterile plate, and then added the culture medium.

For earphones No. 2 and No. 3, before the experiment, the experimenter wore the left ear of both earphones for one hour, while the right ear remained unchanged. After that, the experimenter also sampled No. 2 and No. 3 earphones. After all three earphones were sampled, the experimenter put five plates into a 36 ℃ incubator for bacterial culture.

bacteria multiply nearly 5 times within 1 hour of wearing

After 48 hours of cultivation, the reporter saw that four of the five plates had only white spots. The experimenter explained that this was a colony formed after 48 hours of culture, and there were as many white spots as there were colonies. The reporter found that the only thing without white spots was the sampling on the earphone after disinfection.

After that, through the calculation of the experimenter, it was found that No. 1 earphone was sterile; The left ear of No. 2 earphone is the sample after wearing for 1 hour, with 120 colonies; the right ear is the earphone without treatment, with 25 colonies; The left ear of No. 3 earphone was also a sample after wearing it for 1 hour, and the number of colonies was 25, while the number of colonies in the untreated right ear was 9. It can be seen that in ear earphones are more likely to harbor bacteria than earplug earphones. After wearing the earphone for one hour, the bacteria multiplied nearly five times; After wearing earplug earphones for one hour, the bacteria multiplied nearly three times.

The experimenter Ying Yan said that bacteria generally reproduce asexually by simple two division method, and the division time is generally 20-30 minutes. Therefore, from this perspective, if you wear earphones for one hour, bacteria can multiply nearly five times at most. If you don’t wash them all year round, it will accelerate the propagation of bacteria.

if you don’t clean your headphones for a long time, you may get sick.

The person in charge of the laboratory of the West Lake District CDC said that many bacteria will adhere to the earphones if they are not cleaned for a long time, and these bacteria must not be underestimated. Although people always think that it will not have much effect on the body if they have not cleaned the earphones for a long time, it varies from person to person. When the human body’s resistance is good, they will not make people sick. If an individual’s resistance drops, they will make people sick. Therefore, for their own health, it is still necessary to regularly clean and disinfect personal belongings such as earphones; In addition, your own headphones are for yourself. Don’t use them for others, so as to avoid generating more bacteria.

As for the cleaning method, the person in charge said that the public can disinfect with high-quality wet wipes or wipe with cotton swabs dipped in alcohol. The specific operation is based on the quality of headphones. (reporter Zhao Wanlu, intern Wu Ting / article)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *