Keyboards Are Disgusting 526
fredr1k writes "
A test carried out by Pegasus Lab on account for Swedish magazine PC För alla showed that a normal PC keyboard was infected by more bacteria than a normal toilet seat. More specific it contained 33000 bacteria per square centimeter, compared to 130 on a ordinary toilet seat. The tests also showed occurrence of up to 3100 fungi per square centimeter." Also note that unless you read Swedish, you still have plausible deniability when asked to windex yours.
Makes sense (Score:5, Insightful)
The parts that touch the toilet seat are mostly shielded from bacteria by two layers of cloth.
Fingers, on the other hand, frequently stray to the places where bacteria flourish.
Well it makes sense (Score:5, Insightful)
Very bad comparison. Toilet seats are generally disinfected quite often, so should in fact be pretty clean. Keyboards are not disinfected.
Many things are dirtier than a toilet seat. Especially things that get fingers on them all day long. Engage brain and it all becomes quite obvious.
Anti-septic environments are dangerous (Score:4, Insightful)
A recent study showed that kids who lived on the farm in Germany (or some other European country) grew up with stronger immune systems than those who lived in the cities.
That means the study suggests that they're more resistant to viruses and bacteria than the city folk.
Bacteria (Score:1, Insightful)
wondersnack powers, activate. (Score:1, Insightful)
A Taste Test to Verify the Numbers (Score:3, Insightful)
I think a taste test (and a tetanus shot) should be an option.
Who cares? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not surprised that keyboards are filthy, but frankly, when I was a kid wandering around in creeks hunting crawfish, climbing trees, etc etc I never got sick, and I (almost) never get sick as an adult.
We *need* this exposure. I'm worried for children growing up in sterilized environments today.
Re:Well it makes sense (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Keep it clean will ya (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Keep it clean will ya (Score:2, Insightful)
I used to go through the whole thing of using wipes, cotton wool buds, alcohol-based cleaner, compressed air and tweezers. But you know, I spent more money on that than it cost to get a new keyboard, not to mention the amount of time I wasted, and even at the end it wouldn't be as clean as a new one.
Not the most environmentally friendly method, but at least I have a lot of spare keyboards.
Re:Well it makes sense (Score:3, Insightful)
Generally. But maybe it's time to mention again the research reports [ucdavis.edu] starting in the mid 90s saying that wooden cutting boards are the most sterile surfaces.
These studies have now been repeated by a number of labs. You can find them by googling for "cutting-board bacteria", which right now gets 88,400 hits.
Some of the reports describe smearing a board with bacterial cultures, culturing them overnight in a warm, moist incubator, and in the morning finding all the bacteria dead. (But they don't recommend treating your cutting boards that way.)
There has been a bit of hypothesizing about this. One suggestion from botanists starts with the fact that plants don't have immune systems. The wood in a tree is dead and can't repair itself. So how does a tree manage to live for centuries without being devoured by bacteria? The idea is that woody plants have evolved ways of filling the dead wood cells with gunk that inactivates or kills bacteria and fungi. But further research is needed.
Anyway, one conclusion from this is that you are better off using dense woods for cutting boards and counter tops. The inevitable cracks and scratches will contain far fewer bacteria than surfaces of other tested materials.
What I wonder is why I haven't read any comparisons between wooden cutting boards and toilet seats. Maybe the toilet manufacturers have discovered a better bacteria- and fungus-killing material than maple wood.
What I want is a wooden keyboard, of nice maple or cherry wood. I wonder if anyone makes them? Hey, why not ask google? Yep - there are several manufacturers. Some of them look really pretty. Maybe I'll get one.
Re:Keep it clean will ya (Score:5, Insightful)
Over-use of anyibacterials encourages the spread of resistance [who.int], and may even lead to conditions such as asthma [parenthood.com].
Re:A Test to Verify the Numbers (Score:2, Insightful)
Duh. (Score:5, Insightful)
Why are people surprised by findings such as this one?
Obviously the toilet seat has less germs. Everyone associates "grossness" with germs in their head. Going to the bathroom is gross, and fecal matter is gross, therefore it must be full of germs and bacteria. Not the case, in fact, quite the opposite.
There are more bacteria on your face, more bacteria on your hands and more bacteria in your mouth than your buttocks in most cases.
Just put in the context of contact with the germ filled world you can see by common sense why this would be true:
Your rear end gets washed and then has very little exposure to germs. Your hands and face are out there all day making contact with all types of bacteria.
So I guess my point is that you can't say keyboards are dirty just because they are more bacteria filled than a toilet seat, because I don't even think a door knob holds up to that standard.
Now common sense would also side with keyboards being rather bacteria filled, but I hardly would consider that comparison to be an indicator.
That's actually true, disgusting as it might sound (Score:5, Insightful)
I heard it on the news last year that some German (?) scientist recommended eating nose mucous. As he stated, the nose is the only organ of the body that for the most part does not have a self-cleaning mechanism. The purpose of the mucous is believed to be (among other things) the entrapment of bacteria and other undesirables that would otherwise have entered the body.
By picking, we provide the nasal passages with a method of cleaning to provide new mucous and by -- ugh -- eating we introduce the bacteria into our systems that were otherwise trapped, thus allowing our immune systems to learn about it and, more importantly, learn to defeat it.
I actually discussed this a few days later with a friend of mine who's an Emergency Medical Technician and was a medic in the Army Reserves. After hearing the doctor's explanation, he agreed that it all makes sense. The immune system can't practice its self-defense if it doesn't have any targets to destroy.
Personally, I'll take my chances with the keyboard instead.
Re:A Test to Verify the Numbers (Score:3, Insightful)
Does the seat stink, or does the bowl? Seriously, the only thing that should be touching the seat is butt cheeks -- the nasty stuff goes through the hole and into the bowl. And since (for guys) the seat goes up for a pee, the seat justs needs a clorox wipe once in awhile to keep it clean. The bowl on the other hand...
I can see why a keyboard can get so many germs. There's no telling where those hands have been, and anything on the fingers ends up on the keys.
Re:Makes sense (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:A Test to Verify the Numbers (Score:2, Insightful)
And no I'm not spying on people in the bathroom, just taking a shit in the other stall.
Re:A Test to Verify the Numbers (Score:3, Insightful)
No mystery there at all.
Hands have more bacteria on them than asses. The hand is, by far, the dirtiest part of the human body, because it's the part we touch everything with.
This is true even for obsessive-compulsive hand-washers who use lots of anti-bacterial products. They just have tougher bacteria on their hands.
So something which you smear your hands on all the time (like a keyboard) is going to be dirtier than something you sit on with your bare ass (like a toilet seat.) I agree with the granparent post that this is all very, very old news.
Re:A Test to Verify the Numbers (Score:3, Insightful)
Not to mention the fact that all that food and drink consumed over the keyboard provide a nice, nutricious environment for bacteria.