Keyboards germier than toilet seats
I will never forget a TV special I saw several years ago about household germs. They claimed that germs could "jump" from a toilet bowl and surfaces such as doorknobs were just breeding grounds for virtual colonies of little beasties. Now the new germ-haven is your computer keyboard. Makes sense. Most people may remember to wash their hands before eating, but who thinks to wash their hands before using the computer? And, other than a perfunctory wipe down, my guess is there aren't too many people who really clean their keyboards.
Research from Great Britain indicates that computer keyboards may have more germs than toilet seats. The study was somewhat limited -- swabs were taken from 33 keyboards, one toilet seat, and one bathroom door handle. Several keyboards were dirty enough to be health hazards and one of the keyboards had five times the germs found on the toilet seat.
But even though the findings are a bit gross, there's no reason for alarm. The solution is simple: wash your hands before starting to work and clean your keyboard regularly. You may also want to consider minimizing the amount other co-workers use your keyboard.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-06-2008 @ 12:15PM
Judy said...
Once again I am being the anti-germaphobe and not at all freaked out by this. Our keyboards, door knobs, kitchen sinks, purses, WHATEVER, are all covered in germs just waiting to kill us. But, how often are most people sick? How often are people really, really sick? Maybe a cold here and there, a minor stomach bug on occasion, but rarely dangerously ill. So, all these germs are so scary, except, really, are they? I'm not worried. I wash my hands as necessary, don't use those hand sanitizers unless there is no other option, let my boys play in the dirt, and we're a strong, healthy fit family.
I'm not going to clean my keyboard, I'm not going to wash bananas before I eat them, and I'm not going to worry endlessly about all those big bad germs just waiting to get me.
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