To be fair, if you didn't think that this was a strong possibility, you probably weren't thinking too hard.
It's not that festivals are inherently filthy, or that what goes on there is more likely to gather germs and dirt, actually that is true, but my point is that germs are everywhere so of course those bands you wear around your sweaty wrists are probably going to have a certain amount of bacteria on them.
Saying that, we weren't expecting to hear that they contain 20 times the amount of bacteria than your clothes, but that exactly what a recent study by microbiologist Dr. Alison Cottell has shown.
Tests were done on two wristbands from a the 2013 Reading and Leeds festival, and they came back with 9,000 micrococci and 2,000 staphylococci. Now we have no idea what that means, but it certainly sounds like a lot, and judging by what Dr. Cottell had to say, you can be sure we're burning all of our wristbands as we speak.
“Although these bacteria are normally found on skin there was a surprisingly high number growing from the wristbands.
“Staphylococci are usually harmless but can cause boils and also infect cuts and grazes. They can also cause acute food poisoning if they are ingested.
“Infections are most likely to affect the ability of cuts and grazes to heal. More serious, but rare, complications include septicaemia."
So basically, get them wristbands off your arm, boil them, burn them, put the remains in a box, put the box into the car, drive the car around the world, and BURY THEM.
Via: The Mirror