Your Keyboard is Dirtier than your Toilet

[Aristotle]

Charming.

Keyboards 'dirtier than a toilet'

Some computer keyboards harbour more harmful bacteria than a toilet seat, research has suggested.

...

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.

[Rosuav]

Remembering Mythbusters testing the five-second rule, they discovered that the toilet seat was actually one of the cleanest places - bacteria-wise - in the shop. So the comparison's not really fair. More useful, though, is the figure that it's "150 times the recommended limit" (what limit, though? I'm curious); although even this isn't completely fair as a description of keyboards generally, as that was a worst-case.

But yes. Keyboards can be pretty filthy. I've looked at ones in my own use, and they're bad. I've seen one that my boss eats fresh oranges over, and it's pretty disgusting (orange juice collects dust like you wouldn't believe). And topping them both out by a significant margin is what comes out of an industrial deployment... although that's more grime than bacteria. I eat over the keyboard all the time, and probably the bacteria love it. But meh. I spend too much time debugging my code to worry about debugging my keyboard.

[Talsek]

While I agree that keyboards can get pretty nasty, the 'dirtier than a toilet seat!!!!' thing gets old. Sure there may be more bacteria on my keyboard, but I'd still rather suck old Sunny Delight residue from my Q key than lick my boss's ass sweat off a toilet seat.

[Rosuav]

Originally posted by Talsek
While I agree that keyboards can get pretty nasty, the 'dirtier than a toilet seat!!!!' thing gets old. Sure there may be more bacteria on my keyboard, but I'd still rather suck old Sunny Delight residue from my Q key than lick my boss's ass sweat off a toilet seat.

But what if your keyboard has the dreaded Q virus?

[Kraxe]

It's my keyboard being dirtier than my fridge that really worries me.