Still wearing your Festival wristband? It’s a hotbed of disease

Picture: REX Shutterstock

So you’ve been to a festival and you’ve decided to keeping wearing your wristband as a cool badge of honour, even though it ended a few months ago.

Well don’t – because they’re actually a hotbed of disease and bacteria.

That’s according to a study by microbiology professor Dr Alison Cottell – which found that wristbands contain a worrying 20 times more bacteria than clothes.

The disgusting revelation was found after Dr Cotell tested two bands which had been worn since Reading Festival 2013 – and discovered the presence of staphylococci and micrococci bacteria.

And while the bacteria aren’t thought to be especially harmful, they still have the potential to cause food poisoning.

‘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’, Dr Cottell explained.

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.’

Take those scissors out, and cut the wristbands NOW.