Better clean that keyboard!!!!!!

[Shawn]

Well what can I say

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7377002.stm


Shawn

[sammy]

Keyboards 'dirtier than a toilet'
ahhh I use my keyboard every day without washing them,

[Wood~Ant]

Oddly enough Jenant has just been on a one day course at the hospital where she works, and this was discussed in the health and hygiene lecture.
Your own keyboard gets mucky enough, but the risk of cross infection by picking up bad germs on your fingers is worse on computers used by many people.
So if you use your school computer, one in an office or those in the Internet Cafes used by the general public, then watch out for those lurking bacteria hiding down among the keyboard, as they're out to give you a few nasty surprises

[Jenny]

Yes, I was on an Infection Control, Manual Handling, Fire and a Mental Health/Capacity Act course yesterday The computer keyboard leaflets were handed out, and one of the suggestions was, to keep a packet of pocket wet wipes on you to rub over a public keyboard Or, use the Alcohol Gel you can buy now everywhere and rub that in your hands before typing. But, let the vapours dry before lighting a cigarette if you smoke
Quote from the article we were handed out.......

The studies at the University of Arizona found that a computer keyboard contains something like 3,295microbes per square inch of bacteria, a computer mouse, 1,676 and an office telephone, a truly staggering 25,127 microbes per square inch. These figures seem even more astonishing when they are compared with a toilet, where you will find only 49 germs per square inch.
Offices equipment that we came into regular contact with is bathed in urine, blood, hair, food particles, nasal droppings, saliva and worms.
Bugs such as E-coli, Listeria and Salmonella linger for up to 24 hours on fingertips and survive for a similar period on keyboards.Some of the keyboards carry higher infection risks. Hot desking is one of the key problems. Though we are spending more time at our desks working, eating and drinking, we still seem naive and unaware of the perils of dirty workstations. We can spend a fortune on household cleaning products, yet we seem perfectly content to work in a germ-ridden, bacteria infested work enviroment every day.
More worrying is the threat of MRSA.The superbug can be contracted by touching a keyboard which it inhibits. The amount of germs that can be contracted from a keyboard and telephone can be quite astonishing. The longer you don't clean these items and the more people you have using these items, the more chance you have of passing bacteria from one person to the other.

It is frightening isn't it? But it does make you think when touching most things in the public places especially. We have it drummed into us constantly to wash our hands!! I cannot touch a patient without using gloves, and we are still required to wash hands afterwards. It does get tedious after about 30 times a shift. When you have been out shopping, or come home from school/work, you notice how dirty your hands feel