March 26, 2003 — If you suddenly discovered that something you touch almost every day is riddled with bacteria and germs, filled with greasy food bits, skin flakes, and other nasty unmentionables, you'd probably wonder why it never gets cleaned, right?
Knowing this might make you sick, and in more ways than one.
We're not talking about the handle of a public toilet. We're talking about the computer keyboards that are everywhere in offices and schools. Chances are, if you had a keyboard that's any bit as ordinary and similar to the one we tested here, you'd be appalled to know what's living inside of it.
The Test Subject
At TechTV, we have one computer in particular that is shared by many people. They eat their lunch while working on it, they drink their coffee at the workstation, and who knows what else they do while typing away? It's also near the office bathrooms. In short, we thought it'd make a perfect test subject.
We packaged the keyboard and sent it to the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. Microbiologist Fenyong Liu swabbed the spacebar and cultured the keys in a plain agar dish (agar is a gelatinous material used for bacteria cultures), along with blood-laced agar that helps simulate how bacteria grows in the human body.
"Those harmful bacteria that can affect humans, they pretty much like to grow in the presence of blood, or in the blood stream," said Liu, describing the culture. "So we also included some sheep blood in this culture."
Sandwich and a Side of Strep, Please
Two weeks later, the results showed an immense amount of growth — nasty looking stuff. The agar dishes had big, blob-like growths along with one growth that took over the entire dish.
Liu says he and his researchers were surprised at what they found, describing the findings as "gram-positive… not gram-negative." Translation: Our keyboard was free of growths including E.coli and salmonella, two agents that can cause severe sickness or death. But the cultures did come back with a large proliferation of gram-positive bacteria, which can include staphylococcus. This is the organism behind "staph" infections and an important contributor to skin wound infections. It's also the bug behind strep throat.
Without DNA testing, Liu says he can't tell us if the keyboard actually has the potential to spread these maladies. Still, the large presence of gram-positive bacteria is not a good sign, he said.
Clean Your Desk
"The keyboard is not clean," he said. "So you are working and then you touch your nose and maybe innoculate yourself with the bacteria that causes respiratory infection. Or maybe you bite your nails or drink coffee at the same time so that you ingest the bacteria, which potentially can cause a problem."
Liu says the areas of biggest concern are the high touch zones, the places where your fingers rest and type. Now lots of gross stuff gets down in between the keys, but that's more of a problem for the mechanics of the keyboard than your health. Crumbs and crud cause keys to stick or malfunction, so turning the keyboard upside down and gently whacking the back is a good way to de-crumbify.
Our tests did nothing to address the organisms that cause viral infections, but any surface that comes in contact with saliva from an infected person can transmit a virus.
Germs and bacteria exist everywhere, so it's no wonder they also exist on oft-touched objects such as computer keyboards. The message here: Clean your desk. Using anti-bacterial wipes or alcohol wipes will kill bacteria around your desk. And don't forget the phone, your computer mouse, and all other frequently touched zones.
If you're considering using alcohol, be warned: The black lettering on some keyboards start to come off if you use alcohol too often. And, just to be safe, unplug your keyboard from the back of your computer before cleaning off the keys.
Knowing this might make you sick, and in more ways than one.
We're not talking about the handle of a public toilet. We're talking about the computer keyboards that are everywhere in offices and schools. Chances are, if you had a keyboard that's any bit as ordinary and similar to the one we tested here, you'd be appalled to know what's living inside of it.
The Test Subject
At TechTV, we have one computer in particular that is shared by many people. They eat their lunch while working on it, they drink their coffee at the workstation, and who knows what else they do while typing away? It's also near the office bathrooms. In short, we thought it'd make a perfect test subject.
We packaged the keyboard and sent it to the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. Microbiologist Fenyong Liu swabbed the spacebar and cultured the keys in a plain agar dish (agar is a gelatinous material used for bacteria cultures), along with blood-laced agar that helps simulate how bacteria grows in the human body.
"Those harmful bacteria that can affect humans, they pretty much like to grow in the presence of blood, or in the blood stream," said Liu, describing the culture. "So we also included some sheep blood in this culture."
Sandwich and a Side of Strep, Please
Two weeks later, the results showed an immense amount of growth — nasty looking stuff. The agar dishes had big, blob-like growths along with one growth that took over the entire dish.
Liu says he and his researchers were surprised at what they found, describing the findings as "gram-positive… not gram-negative." Translation: Our keyboard was free of growths including E.coli and salmonella, two agents that can cause severe sickness or death. But the cultures did come back with a large proliferation of gram-positive bacteria, which can include staphylococcus. This is the organism behind "staph" infections and an important contributor to skin wound infections. It's also the bug behind strep throat.
Without DNA testing, Liu says he can't tell us if the keyboard actually has the potential to spread these maladies. Still, the large presence of gram-positive bacteria is not a good sign, he said.
Clean Your Desk
"The keyboard is not clean," he said. "So you are working and then you touch your nose and maybe innoculate yourself with the bacteria that causes respiratory infection. Or maybe you bite your nails or drink coffee at the same time so that you ingest the bacteria, which potentially can cause a problem."
Liu says the areas of biggest concern are the high touch zones, the places where your fingers rest and type. Now lots of gross stuff gets down in between the keys, but that's more of a problem for the mechanics of the keyboard than your health. Crumbs and crud cause keys to stick or malfunction, so turning the keyboard upside down and gently whacking the back is a good way to de-crumbify.
Our tests did nothing to address the organisms that cause viral infections, but any surface that comes in contact with saliva from an infected person can transmit a virus.
Germs and bacteria exist everywhere, so it's no wonder they also exist on oft-touched objects such as computer keyboards. The message here: Clean your desk. Using anti-bacterial wipes or alcohol wipes will kill bacteria around your desk. And don't forget the phone, your computer mouse, and all other frequently touched zones.
If you're considering using alcohol, be warned: The black lettering on some keyboards start to come off if you use alcohol too often. And, just to be safe, unplug your keyboard from the back of your computer before cleaning off the keys.
Tater...missed you! 
Every so often they come out with these idiotic "news" stories designed to make people start freaking out about germs. GET OVER IT! Your life is a constant barrage of germs - it's one of the things that keeps you from getting sick all the time, building your immune system.
They taste good, don't they? 
