July 14, 2008
Filth on the College Computer?
When people complain about finding filth on computers, it’s usually got something to do with Internet porn. But University of Washington students have found that users don’t even have to hit a Web site to contact another kind of dirt. All they have to do is touch the keyboard. It might have high levels of fecal coliform bacteria.
Keyboards in the undergraduate library and in computer labs at Mary Gates Hall, the undergraduate learning center, harbored the bugs, the Seattle Times reported this weekend. Students swabbed them down and tested for the bacteria as part of an environmental-research project.
Now, before you jump to the grossest possible conclusion, fecal coliform does not always come from feces, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. One genus hangs around paper and textile mills. Still, the presence of fecal coliform can be a sign of contaminated water. And yes, it can also be a sign of undesirable bathroom habits.
The bacteria by themselves do not pose health risks. (It’s other micro-organisms traveling with them that can cause diarrhea and other illnesses.) Still, the university said that public keyboards in the library would be scrubbed down once a week from now on. —Josh Fischman
Posted on Monday July 14, 2008 | Permalink |Comments
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Now you know why the keyboards at hospital nurses’ stations are commonly covered with plastic. Too many hands makes for too many cooties.
The keyboards at foreign airport internet kiosks are my personal favorite for filth. Ha ha.
— arch Jul 14, 02:10 PM #
They should scrub down those elevators weekly, too — smells like a not-so-clean Greyhound bus station men’s room.
— anth Jul 14, 05:11 PM #
Reminds me of my mom… “wash your hands after using the restroom, before eating… and now… after computing!”
— Sue Jul 15, 07:17 AM #
A BBC story described testing that showed keyboards could be up to 5x as germy as a toilet seat – they found germs like E.coli and staph .
U Arizona found ‘the average office destop harboured 400x more bacteria than the average office toilet seat’
— Allison Jul 15, 07:36 AM #
A bit off the subject, I guess, but unfortunately two typos in one sentence is by no means a record for a CHE article. It should be
(It’s other. . . with them that can cause . . .
And for heaven’s sake let’s clean up those keyboards. Yech!
— dan Jul 15, 08:16 AM #
germaphobia….Just clean your keyboard and wash your hands.
— mk Jul 15, 09:25 AM #
GROSS!
— kgotthardt Jul 15, 10:11 AM #
You guys are full of crap.
— Miles Lungren Jul 15, 11:49 AM #
Poop
— steve Jul 15, 12:05 PM #
Heavens! All this attention to fecal matters!
— Phil Schwartz Jul 15, 04:06 PM #
and we talk about people having shitty outlooks … but wait, there’s more!!! …
— Henry W Collier Jul 16, 04:50 AM #