How Do Viral Infections Spread So Fast? The Answer Is Right Under Your Fingertips
While millions of us hope for the success of the H1N1 vaccine, we are also on the lookout for telltale sources of infection to avoid: people who sneeze, cough, have fever or just look sick. If ever there was a perfect time for becoming a profiler of the apparently ill, this is it.
And, while most of us have become more frequent hand-washers and are savvy enough to move swiftly away from a sneezing, coughing associate, experts have determined that a frightening array of stealth bacteria and viruses thrive and breed unnoticed, but right under our noses – on our computer keyboards.
Epidemic Intelligence Officer Dr. Shua Chai of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, in 2008, first alerted the world to the fact that computer keyboards – and their accompanying “mice” – were the root cause of a 2007 outbreak of norovirus that closed a Washington D.C. elementary school. More than 100 children and staffers were infected. Viral germs spread incredibly fast; when computers are shared, he said, so are viruses.
Donald S. Hetzel, Ph.D., former head of R&D for several multinational pharmaceutical corporations, concurred noted that “shared computer keyboards serve as the perfect home and launching pad for a wide range of bacteria and viruses.”
“In a 2008 study in the U.K., researchers found keyboards to be laden with more germs than a public toilet. Even in a typical U.S. office setting, cultures from swabs from computer keyboards revealed salmonella, rotavirus, staph and MRSA. That’s nothing to sneeze it — especially when you consider that germs may live on inanimate object for hours and can jump to dozens of keyboard users in a day.”
The fact is: one germ can wind up infecting hundreds of users, especially if the users eat near their computers. Crumbs provide the food and fuel for bacteria to replicate and run rampant on the keys and in between.
“If this scares you, then I’ve succeeded,” Dr. Hetzel said. “Billions of dollars and millions of lost days from work and school are attributed to the spread of infectious disease every year. So much of this could be avoided if we used a few simple precautions.”
Even as early as 2002, medical investigators found that contaminated computer keyboards where students picked up their college email at Dartmouth, were the vectors through which more than 700 students contracted conjunctivitis in a matter of days. Hundreds were re-infected before the source was identified.
Just a few years ago, a study conducted by public health and safety organization NSF International, at an elementary school in Tennessee, found that computer keyboards harbored aerobic bacteria, yeast, mold and coliforms.
In environments where even more exotic and dangerous strains are found – i.e., hospitals — studies warn that computer keyboards in intensive care units can serve as reservoirs for microorganisms from which pathogens may be transferred via the hands of personnel to the patient — causing nosocomial infections. This is particularly problematic for patients with already compromised immune systems.
Many of the usual suspects on hospital keyboards and mobile diagnostic units include MRSA, norovirus, strep, staph, influenza A, coronavirus, Candida and gram-negative organisms. Faucet handles and computer keyboards in ICUs have shown particularly high colonization rates of MRSA in rooms with patients who tested positive for MRSA, suggesting cross-contamination.
While it would seem logical that today’s omnipresence of antibacterial sprays and wipes would keep most bugs in check, misuse of wipes and sprays works against the theory. “In our study,” reported Dr. Gareth Williams of Cardiff University at a 2008 American Society of Microbiologists scientific conference in Boston, “we saw there was a tendency to use one wipe on consecutive surfaces, such as bed rails, computer monitors and keyboards.” This pattern of use often transferred live bacteria to uncontaminated surfaces.
As they say, knowledge is power. In the case of illness, awareness may our best defense this season. When you realize the potential of your computer keyboard to function as a kind of Typhoid Mary, and understand the keyboard’s disease-spreading potential, you’ll be in the right mindset to start protecting yourself, your associates and your loved ones this flu season.
In fact, Many experts suggest that reducing the surface bacterial and viral count on your computer may ultimately be just as important as wearing a face mask, staying home when you’re sick or washing your hands 20 times a day.
Posted by leomennitt 
Posted by leomennitt 
Posted by leomennitt 
New Jersey Technology Council
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