The arrival of summer marks the beginning of festivals, and with them the return of bracelets in fabrics tied around the wrists. But while they mean a lot to festival-goers, these bracelets aren’t really the ultimate in hygiene.
Alison Cottell, a microbiologist from the University of Surrey (United Kingdom) studied the bacterial composition of these bracelets, and therefore advises to discard them at the end of the festival.
In a study reported by the Daily Mail, the researcher tested two bracelets worn during the Reading Rock Festival (UK) in 2013. She simply placed them on agar, a gelatinous structure that reveals the presence of bacteria. It was then that she found that the bracelets harbored a “surprisingly high number” of microorganisms: 2,000 staphylococci in total and around 9,000 microorganisms. The bracelets therefore had on average 20 times more bacteria than the clothes that we can usually wear.
But if bacteria of type staphylococci are generally harmless, they can infect a more vulnerable person if they are present in large quantities, as is the case in these bracelets. These bacteria can cause infections if they get into cuts or abrasions. In addition, the microbiologist assures that these infections can complicate the healing of wounds or even lead to sepsis, a serious infection of the blood system. In rarer cases, staphylococci can also cause food poisoning.
For Dr. Alison Cottell, it is therefore better to get rid of these bracelets as soon as possible, no offense to sentimental people who collect them. “It would be desirable not to wear them if you work in fields such as health and the food industry, because bacteria risk spreading to other people”, and a fortiori of creating infections, a advised the researcher to the Daily Mail reporter. Not sure, however, that all festival fans take it seriously.
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