Computer keyboards are a breeding ground for bacteria, especially when keyboards are shared, according to a recent study published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.
Researchers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, led by William A. Rutala, an epidemiologist at the UNC Health Care System, swabbed 25 computer keyboards that were used frequently by multiple nurses and other health care providers.
As expected, the keyboards were teeming with bacteria, said Rutala. (The team did not look for viruses, but presumably, they were flourishing there as well.) In a second phase of the study, the team then deliberately put certain known strains of bacteria on keyboards to see how well commonly-available disinfectants worked.
The team used three products containing quaternary ammonium compounds: Chlorox wipes, CaviWipes and Sani-Cloths. All worked well, removing 95 to 100 percent of bacteria. So did three other products, plain old 70 percent isopropyl alcohol; Vesphene, a different germicide and a chlorine product containing 80 parts of chlorine per million. “These are all inexpensive, they’re just pennies per wipe,” said Rutala. All the products can also kill viruses, he said. And even sterile water was able to remove, though not inactivate, keyboard bacteria.
To see if all this disinfecting damaged keyboards, Rutala’s team wiped each of the IBM laptop keyboards 300 times with each of the six disinfectants. No damage was done.
Dr. John Halamka, chief information officer for Caregroup, which owns Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and for Harvard Medical School, recommended that hospital areas in which many people share keyboards should use “membrane” keyboards, in which a thin layer of plastic covers the keys, making the keyboard easier to clean. It’s also essential, he said, for health care providers who share keyboards, especially in a hospital setting, to be compulsive about hand washing, including before using shared keyboards.