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Workstations 'Dirtier Than Toilets'

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the crumbs-are-a-vital-source-of-nutrition dept.

hettb writes "How often do you clean your keyboard and surrounding work area? A recent study (also discussed here) found that computer workstations harbour 400 times more health threatening bacteria than the average toilet seat. If you're anything like me, spending most of both professional and personal time in front of your computer, this is sobering news. "

3 of 529 comments (clear)

  1. Americans are obsessed with microbes by _LORAX_ · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Is it just me or is all of this really quite moot. Between what we are exposed to outside naturally or what we subject ourselves to daily what is on our workstation is hardly going to really make a difference one way or another.

    Lets see some things that are probalw worse.

    1) Any food/drink ordered from think geek
    2) Coke
    3) Paint fumes/dust and metal dust from people Modding their case.
    4) Sitting in from of this damm irradating device for 12hrs/day
    5) ..
    6) ...
    203331) some extra bactera on your desk

  2. This doesn't surprise me... by keep_it_simple_stupi · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I am a sys admin for a large company. I see people in the restroom all the time that don't wash their hands... Normally this wouldn't bother me, but then I think of how I'll be at that same users pc in 20 minutes. It makes me want to wear latex gloves like the doctor's office uses.

  3. Immune system by Frank+T.+Lofaro+Jr. · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If you have a strong immune system, these bacteria aren't going to affect you. (*)

    If you have a weak immune system, you are very likely to get sick no matter what - quite possibly very sick - with or without using "anti-bacterial" products - unless you isolate yourself in a bubble, like people with Severe Combined ImmunoDeficiency (SCID, a.k.a. bubble boy syndrome) have to.

    (*) Same applies to many viruses. Some people in experiments had live cold virus put up their nose! Some of the people did not get sick. Why? Because their immune system was strong.

    Not letting your immune system even fight normal battles makes it both ineffective - leading to more infections, not less, and overreactive - leading to more allergies, asthma and even auto-immune diseases (such as Lupus and MS).

    --
    Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!