There are certain things you should bring back from a festival. Great memories, the odd bruise here and there and your tent. Your festival wristband? Well, it turns out, you’re better off cutting that thing off as soon as you get chance.
When you think about it, it does make sense. You’ve spent a weekend rolling around in mud, drinking and partaking in all kinds of debauchery, so you’re likely to have picked up some fairly unfriendly bacteria on the way. As a result, your festival wristband is now absolutely covered in germs. Like, seriously.
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Read more: The ‘NHS Festival Survival Guide’ Pamphlet Is Seriously Grim
Over at the Science Dump, they’ve plucked up the courage and decided to test a festival wristband for germs to see just how filthy they get. Turns out they’re bloody disgusting. Dr. Allison Cottell of the University Of Surrey discovered that a two year old wristband contained “a concentration of around 9,000 micrococci and 2,000 staphylococci bacteria on them”. What does that all mean though? Cottell has this to say:
“Staphylococci are usually harmless although they can cause boils and infections of cuts and grazes, and can also cause a form of acute food poisoning if they are ingested. It would be advisable not to wear them if working in industries such as healthcare or food preparation, where there is a risk that the bacteria may spread to other people.”
Reading 2014 might have been a vintage year, but that souvenir wristband might end up making you very sick…