Everywhere at Mclean, students are wearing all sorts of devices in and around their ear. From airpods, earbuds and headphones, no one is safe from the inconspicuous dread that lies within them.

The issue? Bacteria, diseases, and fungi that are residing in these seemingly normal everyday items. While at first glance they may look clean and bacteria free, there might be hundreds of thousands of microscopic bacteria feeding of sweat, earwax and other things found in airpods, earbuds and headphones.

Bacteria such as staphylococcus, pseudomonas, streptococcus and the MRSA super bug, which is renowned for being resistant to medications and causing thousands of deaths in the U.S every year. While fungus is less common, it’s actually more dangerous because just like bacteria, fungus can adapt to the the surrounding area, making it harder to kill as it’s more similar to humans and animals than bacteria.

One of the most common infection is called “swimmers ear”, where water that stays in the ear after water related activities gets trapped and creates a perfect environment for fungi and diseases to thrive and cause inflammation and irritation in the ear canal. Swimmer’s ear can also be acquired even if the host hasn’t participated in water related activities, as merely the earwax and damp, dark environment in the ear is enough for unwanted guests.

Although a majority of these diseases aren’t harmful and may go away naturally, sometimes they can lead to rashes, hypersensitivity or infections in your ear. Continuous infections in the ear or more serious infections can lead to damage in the ear, which if left untreated will result in temporary to permanent hearing loss. These issues can potentially be amplified if there is a cut or other injury in the ear.

To prevent these problems in the first place it to simply clean out the devices regularly. There are several ways to do this, but a simple and effective method is to dip a Q-tip in rubbing alcohol to the point where it’s damp, not completely wet, as that could lead to alcohol getting into the components of the earbud. The rubbing alcohol kills most bacteria and cleans out the earbud.

Another common method that bacteria ends up in the ear is when it is shared between people. Although some people might not think they have any diseases because they are mostly immune to them, others may not be. Consequently, when someone shares their earbud with another person, that bacteria easily and infects the other person.