New Indpress
 
Bangalore, Nov 10: If you are a regular at cyber cafes hooked on to the earphones, then you might want to rethink your habitual use of them. A study on earphone usage at cyber centers has revealed that they can cause ear infections.

D Charumati, Lecturer in Department of Botany, KLE Society, did a study in the city. A study on 100 earphones in various cyber cafes revealed that the devices can cause audio-respiratory problems. Users may be prone to bacterial and respiratory infections and meningitis of bones, joints and tendons.

Earphones are commonly used in cyber cafes either to listen to music or conduct conversation, but most users are ignorant about its dangers. Earphones are made from non-bio-degradable polymers, which contain microorganisms. Users get infected when they use the earphones constantly.

Study shows that earphones harbor opportunistic pathogenic microorganisms. These microorganisms enter the upper respiratory tract of human beings and lie dormant. When the host’s immunity is lowered, these microbes cause diseases.

Charumathi suggests controlling the spread of such infection through natural methods like using extracts of mango ginger, cloves, turmeric and camphor to inhibit the growth of microbes.

Earphone users are advised to use these natural extracts in their daily diet, which builds up immunity or apply it on the body of earphones to avoid infections from the pathogens.