Do you have your own allocated desk at work? If you do, at least the germs hiding in your telephone, keyboard and mouse are all your own. But give a thought for those who move desk each day and have to use a different computer and office equipment.
As I type this, the thought of what is lingering on each key on my keyboard sends a shiver down my spine. Many of you will be heading for the disinfectant wipes as we speak, but do you really know what kind of germs live on your office keyboard and how harmful they really are to you?
In a study, scientists took swab samples from 33 office keyboards and compared the results to swabs taken from a toilet seat. They found traces of coliforms, e.coli, enterobacteria and staphylococcus aureus – which are all forms of food poisoning germs. One of the keyboards had levels of the bacteria so severe (five times dirtier than a toilet seat) that it was quarantined and cleaned, four others were also potentially hazardous which could put their uses at risk of becoming ill if they ate at their desk whilst typing.
Speaking of the findings, Sarah Kidner from Which? said: “The shocking results revealed that some of these keyboards were harbouring harmful bacteria that could potentially give their users a stomach upset.
“The main cause of a bug-infested keyboard is eating lunch at desks, as the food deposits encourage the growth of millions of bacteria.
“Poor personal hygiene, such as dodging hand washing after going to the lavatory, may also be to blame.
“Most people don’t give much thought to the grime that builds up on their PC, but if you don’t clean your computer, you might as well eat your lunch off a lavatory seat.”
After reading this article you may be inspired to clean your keyboard and mouse much more often than you do now. But how often do you actually clean them? If you are like me, once a month seems suffice – but now I think once a week would be much safer.
But if you want to ensure your keyboard is germ free, you may want to consider purchasing a Logitech K310 keyboard, which can be rinsed and even submerged in 28cm of water to make it look like new.
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