Keyboards are Havens for Super Bugs

Techguy666 writes "Gee, this is a suprise. Researchers have found that keyboards harbor bacteria and super-germs. This is particularly interesting this time because this research noted that there is a lot of computer use in hospitals and they're finding it really difficult to sterilize them."

What about...

[Frogmum]

on screen keyboards?

Maybe what we need

[arodland]

Is a more lightweight, disposable version of those plastic keyboard covers. It would be a membrane thin and flexible enough that it wouldn't interfere with your typing, but which could be thrown out at the end of the day. It would also, conveniently, protect your keyboard from wayward food particles and corrosive finger oils.

I can only assume that if making such a thing were easy it would have been done by now.

What I do with my keyboard...

[WIAKywbfatw]

Take it apart and clean it every six months or so.

Unscrew what can be unscrewed, and lever the keys off with a screwdriver. Clean the under-key area as well as everywhere else with some window cleaner (or whatever solvent you have around) and clean the keys one-by-one in warm, soapy water. Then let everything dry (a hair dryer set on a cool setting can speed things up with the main part of the keyboard) and put everything back together again.

By the way, if you're unable to put together a keyboard layout from memory, I suggest taking a couple of quick pictures of your keyboard with a digital camera - at least that way you won't be left wondering which key goes where.

We OCD/Germophobes are way ahead of you.

[Slightly Askew]

This [compucover.com] is a must.

These [cloroxdisi...gwipes.com] rock at the office, too.

I swear it sounds like a TB ward here at least twice a year.

Re:Plastic cover

[the real darkskye]

Or why not just wear surgical gloves while typing?

Re:That is NOT what they found!

[gammygator]

Furthermore, having worked for a hospital, IMHO it is most likely the hospital that harbors the "super germs". Keyboards are just another medium by which these "super germs" propagate.

I seem to remember something in orientation about certain germs and bacteria only existing in a hospital... something to do with the environment being hostile to everything but the strongest bugs.

Re:Plastic cover

[AviLazar]

I think the problem comes from the person using surgical gloves, touches something that comes in contact with the patient then touches the computer. Imagine if the patient had AIDs/HIV, and the nurse who had gloves touches the keyboard. Would you want to be the next patient in line - when the nurse touches the keyboard and then touches you? A good keyboard cover that can be immersed in amonia (or whatever cleaners the hospital uses) should do the trick. After each case they spray the keyboard just like they spray everything else in there that cannot be autoclaved or disposed of.

Re:My immune system getting stronger and stronger.

[Nos.]

This is actually what I believe. There's various studies out there that suggest that growing up in a more rural environment will tend to produce less allergenic and breathing problems in later life. The belief is that the constant exposure to dust, seeds, animal dander and hair, etc. that is more common in a rural setting will actually teach the body to not treat these (relatively) harmless materials as hazardous and trigger allergenic or asthmatic responses.

The same could be said of bacteria and such. We're now beginning to realize that treating every infection or virus (say a cold) with antibiotics will in fact, over time, make the bug more resistant to the drugs. A lot of people belive this is why the so called flesh-eating disease is so resistant to anti-biotics. Its been exposed to them all before.

Remember folks, our parents and grandparents didn't have $brandName anti-bacterial wipes to clean up after cutting raw chicken, and they didn't die from salmonella either. Simple precautions such as washing your hands with soap (don't spend extra on the anti-bacterial crap) regularaly. Don't rub your eyes or pick your nose after being in contact with questionable objects.

Simple hygene can actually prevent a surprising number of infections.

Dishwasher Safe

[lazarus]

Well younguns, sit down there by the fire, as I have a story to tell you.

Years ago, keyboards were big, heavy, and and made with buckling springs [wikipedia.org]. I'm, in fact, typing on one right now and you may be able to find one of your own, but there pretty damn rare now.

Anyway, in the old days when some unfortuate lad poured coffee (or beer) into their keyboard you could just throw the entire keyboard into the bath with some mild detergent, swish it around, and hang it on the line to dry for a few days. You could use a hair dryer if you were in a hurry.

Well, let me tell you. We once had a whole batch of "dead" BS keyboards that we had been collecting over time (being busy and not having time to properly bath them as they came into the service area). One day the service manager was scratching his big bald head, wondering if he should just throw them all out when he was struck by an idea.

Yep, he put them all into one of the company's dishwashers. Added a little dishwasher detergent and put it on the normal cycle.

Well, those keyboards came out just like they was brand spankin new. And they worked just fine (after they had dried off, that is).

Perhaps those hospitals could try that. Personally, I wouldn't unless they are still using old BS keyboards as I doubt that these modern high-tech flimsy things would stand up to the ordeal.

Re:What I do with my keyboard...

[kevin_conaway]

That may be practical for you at home, but do you know how many computers a large sized hospital has? Most of them seem to be understaffed and overworked as is. On top of that, you're suggesting that they take apart their keyboards, clean them and let them dry out while they need them for important or non-important hospital functions? Doesn't seem very practical to me

Re:Plastic cover

[Hoplite3]

The real problem is that true "super bugs" aren't bothered by bleach. They've found strains that can be CULTURED IN CLOROX BLEACH right from the bottle. This is what happens when organisms with short generation times encounter environmental difficulties. See "The Coming Plague" by Laurie Garrett for more interesting stories in this vein.

Regardless, you could just replace the plastic :)

That won't happen, however. Some medical device company will manufacture a keyboard from special plastics without spaces between the keys and charge $500 for it. That's (part of) how health care costs keep going up.

Or, just trash it

[Ars-Fartsica]

The MS Natural Keyboard is $40. Every six months I trash mine and get a new one.

Re:Plastic cover

[B3ryllium]

I call bullshit.

HIV, like many other viruses, is not able to survive in an oxygenated environment. Imagine millions of little virus cells exploding as soon as they are exposed to air.

Re:The touchstream is the perfect solution

[Waffle Iron]

Yes... a perfect solution for anyone willing to shell out >$300 for a keyboard....

Since they're talking about hospitals here, I would expect the problem to get solved a different way: For each patient they'll break out a brand-new $20 keyboard every day, and throw the previous one in the trash. Then they'll tack a daily $150 keyboard charge onto the patient's bill.

Re:Wait, in a hospital... where there are DOCTORS.

[DancesWithBlowTorch]

Your subject sums up your mistake quite well.

What you're saying is right (to a certain extent) for the standard computer user's environment. But in a hospital, there are some pretty nasty germs around. Think about TBC, for example. Or MRSA. Combine that with a "population" of, by definition, very sick people with a weakened immune defence and you might begin to understand why hospitals have to worry about hygiene, on keyboards just as much as everywhere else. Especially in isolation wards or in intensive care units, were the patients' bodies are busy wrestling with death, the last thing you want to have floating around are the antibiotics-resistant germs from the guy in the adjacent box.

Yes, I have worked in hospitals.

Re:Or, use a virtual keyboard...

[Johnboi Waltune]

I use heavy glass cutting boards in my kitchen. You wouldn't think glass would be an effective surface, but it is. It's nonporous, and doesn't get the scratches and gouges that plastic and wooden boards do, so there is no place for the bacteria to hide in. You throw them in dishwasher when you're done using them.

To keep this on topic, why don't these hospitals just buy silicone covers for their keyboards? Silicone is nonporous can be completely sterilized by immersing it in boiling water. I have a silicone keyboard cover for my Powerbook, it's great.

Re:Plastic cover

[The Ultimate Fartkno]

A nurse who contaminates her hands with hazmat, goes and does some word processing, and then does a prostate exam on another patient without ever visiting a sink? What hospital is this, Ebolaville General?

Seriously - I'm pretty sure they cover germs *somewhere* in nursing school...

Re:Sterilizing Keyboards

[PW2]

I hope you and all your co-workers use dust-masks when using compressed ait to clean the keyboards -- I hate when people here do that without warning since I hate breathing in years worth of people.

Re:Or, just trash it

[Anonymous Coward]

the environment weeps.

Re:Plastic cover

[shotfeel]

They were also talking about cases like:

Patient A uses computer provided in the hospital room.
Next Day, Patient B uses computer in the room.
Next Day...

Nurse walks into examination room, pulls up patient record.
Patient gets bored, plays around with computer.
Doctor walks intor room, uses same computer (but washes hands before touching patient).
Patient's kid messes around with computer during exam.
Time for next patient -repeat scenario day after day for months.

The problem still exists even if the health-care professionals wash hands and use gloves as they're supposed to. The whole regime is set to prevent the doctor/nurse from being the conduit. Nothing prevents the computer from being the conduit.

Re:The touchstream is the perfect solution

[John Meacham]

This is a common misconception, that there is no tactile feedback, probably caused by people used to membrane keyboards where pressure is needed to cause a key to register and you have no feedback on when you have applied the right amount of presure.

This is not the case with the touchstream, since it used e-field sensing, pressure does not matter, it can even detect your hands when they arn't even touching the surface of the keyboard. The tactile feedback is your fingertip touching the surface of the keyboard, if you feel ANYTHING the key has registered. there is an exact correspondence between the 'touch' and the 'keypress'. It is really great tactile feedback actually, you only need to feel for one thing, the touch and not a change in resistance like with normal keyboards. It is impossible for it not to register a keystroke, once you are used to it, your hands sort of glide over the surface and you lightly, very lightly just tap out what you want.

It is for some reason really difficult to convince people of this when they sit down, you see them mashing their fingers in because they are used to pressure based systems.

So why not use mil style keyboards

[Arimus]

Most military systems have keyboards that can be decontaminated (ie rubber keys and environmentally sealed) - okay they're not the greatest to type on for hours at a time but they do the job...

Why not use those style keyboards so they can be cleaned easily?

Only way to sterilize

[Anonymous Coward]

Use Vaporized Hydrogen Peroxide under non-condensing conditions to sterilize most electronic equipment without damage even after numerous exposures. Even zaps Anthrax.

Re:My immune system getting stronger and stronger.

[Junior J. Junior III]

Infant mortality and life expectancy were both much worse back then. People did in fact die more. And what's more, disease was poorly understood, so a lot of what killed people back then, they didn't even know what it was.

Re:Another note: Capacitors

[X0563511]

OK, so the electiricty takes the path of least resistance straight between the cap leads... and discharges the capacitor. So what exactly would that hurt besides the water between the leads?