Keyboards May Be Dirtier Than a Toilet Seat

Posted by Alex in Gadget, Medicine on May 4, 2008 at 1:00 am


UK Consumer group Which? conducted the test that showed keyboards may actually be dirtier than a toilet seat:

Out of 33 keyboards swabbed, four were regarded as a potential health hazard and one harboured five times more germs than one of the office’s toilet seats.

Microbiologist Dr Peter Wilson said a keyboard was often "a reflection of what is in your nose and in your gut".

During the Which? tests in January this year, a microbiologist deemed one of the office’s keyboards to be so dirty he ordered it to be removed, quarantined and cleaned. It had 150 times the recommended limit for bacteria – five times as filthy as a lavatory seat tested at the same time, the research found.

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19 comments to "Keyboards May Be Dirtier Than a Toilet Seat"

  1. Chad Cloman
    May 4th, 2008 at 1:41 am

    These researchers have obviously never seen my bathroom.

  2. MrPumpernickel
    May 4th, 2008 at 2:25 am

    I thought this was common knowledge already?

  3. Divine
    May 4th, 2008 at 3:02 am

    I knew it's dirty, I never knew it was that dirty! I'm gonna clean my keyboard now...

  4. ted
    May 4th, 2008 at 7:09 am

    I keep telling myself I've gotta stop sitting on the keyboard.

  5. IanC-neat
    May 4th, 2008 at 7:41 am

    I'm sick and tired of hearing "X is Y times dirtier than a toilet seat because it has Y times the number of bacteria".

    What about the _types_ of bacteria? Fair enough if my keyboard for some reason is full of the types of bacteria found in faeces, but otherwise, shut the fuck up!

    How about this... 100 people with a cold are "dirtier" than 1 person with ebola. Which would you rather share a train with though?

  6. S-r-ex
    May 4th, 2008 at 7:52 am

    Since when did humanity finger away on the toilet seat say...four to five hours each day on a daily basis? I can tell you, your cellphone's even dirtier! There's nice and warm down in your pocket, just perfect for bacterias to thrive...

  7. SenorMysterioso
    May 4th, 2008 at 11:36 am

    Re: IanC-neat

    Some of it is from fecal matter because so many disgusting people refuse to wash their hands

  8. Parker
    May 4th, 2008 at 12:42 pm

    Our buttcheeks are probably a couple of the cleanest places on our bodies. And our waste is fairly clean compared to everything we touch since our body's very good at neutralizing crap. We shower fairly often and how many times do we disinfect our keyboards? And this was tested on office computers, not home computers..can you imagine?

  9. Globi
    May 4th, 2008 at 2:21 pm

    Why is the content of my nose and gut a "health hazard"?

  10. sparge
    May 4th, 2008 at 2:25 pm

    Yeah, I hate when studies say X is dirtier than a toilet seat. Toilet seats are not all that dirty!

    Besides, how often do you clean your toilet seats? How often do you clean your keyboards? Right.

  11. Tempscire
    May 4th, 2008 at 2:51 pm

    Ah, this story again...

  12. Sofar
    May 4th, 2008 at 3:34 pm

    I got a washable keyboard cover. Keeps the crumbs out. What's the point of these studies, anyway? Wow, a dog's mouth is cleaner than a man's mouth. Fantastic. I've never concerned myself with dirt and germs. I eat stuff off the floor, I eat off of others' plates, I flush toilets with my hands instead of my foot, and I only wash my hands for five seconds. I'm a freaking madman. It's pointless, you can't escape germs. Wash your hands every half an hour or so, that's all you can do. If you're gonna get Hepatitus A or something you're gonna get it from that which you least expect. Avoiding the select items filed under "dirty" rather than "safe" in your mind isn't going to help.

  13. MrPumpernickel
    May 4th, 2008 at 7:34 pm

    Globi, where did you hear that the contents of your nose was a health hazard? Eating your snot has been linked to strenghtening your immune system as well as acting as calming the stomach. Now, it may of course still be disgusting to pick and eat, but the science behind it seems solid anyway.

  14. Barbwire
    May 4th, 2008 at 9:07 pm

    So how do you clean a keyboard? Don't just tell us what's wrong, tell us how to fix it.

  15. Miss Cellania
    May 4th, 2008 at 9:47 pm

    I occasionally pop a few keys off and take a damp q-tip to the area underneath. Can't take off too many, or I'll never get them back in the right place! The keyboard is still pretty nasty, but it would be worse if I never made the attempt.

    There are folks who put their keyboards in the dishwasher, but I'm afraid to do that. The only time water was spilled on mine (roof leak), the laminated layers inside took so long to dry that they corroded a bit. It never worked perfectly afterward. That's a Mac keyboard; your mileage may vary.

  16. Aar000n
    May 4th, 2008 at 11:20 pm

    And that is why I don't like using school computers...

  17. Jaycatt
    May 5th, 2008 at 12:20 pm

    I was occasionally asked to clean keyboards here at work, and most of the typical ones did not come apart. However, the MS Natural Keyboard was always a joy to clean... Just a few screws out, then a couple of rubber mats to wash off and keytops to soak in sudsy water. Give it all a dry and snap them back into place, and you've got a new keyboard for the most part.

    My current keyboard, an old clicky IBM Model M model, can remove the keytops, but is pretty tricky to actually open up and get all the crumbs out of.

  18. sergio
    May 23rd, 2008 at 9:10 am

    Need your I.T. Equipment clean come to http://www.1stcompucare.com

  19. Anne Maher
    December 20th, 2008 at 7:39 am

    Do not use 1st Computer.
    They sacked me, I admit I was fiddling the accounts, but the charges were thrumped up.

    They pay cash in hand for cetain jobs.

    Use illegal employees and they do not pay national minimum wage.

    Use a rival.


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