I rather eat off the toilet bowl than my keyboard

[W1nTry]

EWWW

Toilet seats are cleaner than keyboards

Pernicious peripheral peril

By Andrew Thomas: Thursday, 01 May 2008, 12:00 PM

COMPUTER KEYBOARDS can be home to more harmful bacteria than a toilet seat, says UK consumer watchdog, Which.

Tests on 33 keyboards at the organisation's offices found four that posed a health hazard and one playing host to five times more germs than the office's toilet seats. It was ordered to be removed, quarantined and cleaned after tests showed it exceeded recommended bacteria limits by 150 times.

"If you look at what grows on computer keyboards, and hospitals are worse, believe it or not, it's more or less a reflection of what's in your nose and in your gut," Dr Peter Wilson, a consultant microbiologist at University College London Hospital told BBC Radio. "Should somebody have a cold in your office, or even have gastroenteritis, you're very likely to pick it up from a keyboard."

Which said one of the causes of dirty keyboards was the increase in the number of people eating lunch at their desks.

The survey also found that 10 per cent of people said they never cleaned their keyboard, with a further 20 per cent admitting to never cleaning their mouse. Almost half cleaned their keyboard less than once a month.

http://www.which.co.uk/reports_and_campaigns/computers_and_internet/reports/computers/bacteria_news_article_557_137708.jsp

[chinarakinda]

We are not allowed to eat by our desks @ my job so I'm kinda safe. Plus I clean it with robin alcohol now and then

[Crixx_Creww]

wow
that is nasty

i think ill start walking with my own keyboard to the office...

i know i clean mine often, but i could easily see noobs making it dirty

[New Era Outlaw]

I'm almost willing to bet that everybody who reads this article is going to wince at first, but then carry on like normal afterwards. There are actually a lot of things that carry worse germs than a toilet seat....purses, money.....even other people's hands.

I know the keyboards I use are relatively clean. The one at work is only used by two people (myself being one of them), and the one home? Me, myself and I. I keep some hand sanitizer handy just in case, though.

[TriniXaeno]

lol

There was an article some years ago that identified keyboards and mice at cybercafe's as biohazards.

Nasteh!

Luckily they are cheap enough to change out every now and then. Desktop keyboards are anyway.

Laptop users may be running around with a level 4 biohazard after a year or two of use if they don't douse some clorox on their boards.

[Q]

And ppl want to look at me funny because I carry hand sanitizer. Good thing I don't have them to study.