Slashdot Mirror
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."
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.
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.
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
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.
No Nyarlathotep, No Chaos
Know Nyarlathotep, Know Chaos
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.
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. 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.
I am not interested in articles about life extension advancements.
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.
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.
"The advanced societies of the future will be driven by competing systems of psychopathology." -JG Ballard
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...