Germs on laptop keyboard

[MissDP]

I'm probably worrying about nothing but since the pandemic I've been even more worried about germs. I was given a used laptop - the keyboard I sprayed lightly with an alcohol aerosal and then wiped down with antibacterial wipes. I didn't take the keys off, so I'm not confident that the underneath of the keys got cleaned. How long do harmful germs last on a keyboard anyway? I've had it for about 2 months and since I don't really understand microbiology and have only seen the scaremongering in adverts about germs, I'm freaking out. I didn't wait for the alcohol spray to dry either before I wiped, so I'm also freaking out that the two agents mixed and possibly cancelled out each other's ability to sanitise.

Edited September 29, 2023 by MissDP

[John Cuthber]

You can stop worrying.
2 months of dry conditions will kill most bugs- regardless of whether we are talking about bacteria viruses or what.

 

[Sensei]

You touch paper money or door handles every day, right? And you don't panic about it? Then there is no reason to freak out about a used laptop..

ps. You should worry about computer viruses and Trojan applications on it..

[StringJunky]

The human body constitutes 30 trillion cells, add another 38 trillion non-human cells... and yet we largely still roam around unencumbered from one day to the next.

Quote

Reported values in the literature on the number of cells in the body differ by orders of magnitude and are very seldom supported by any measurements or calculations. Here, we integrate the most up-to-date information on the number of human and bacterial cells in the body. We estimate the total number of bacteria in the 70 kg "reference man" to be 3.8·1013. For human cells, we identify the dominant role of the hematopoietic lineage to the total count (≈90%) and revise past estimates to 3.0·1013 human cells. Our analysis also updates the widely-cited 10:1 ratio, showing that the number of bacteria in the body is actually of the same order as the number of human cells, and their total mass is about 0.2 kg.

Thoroughly revised estimates show that the typical adult human body consists of about 30 trillion human cells and about 38 trillion bacteria.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4991899/

 

[CharonY]

Also, if you are the only user of the the laptop, you will be mostly exposed to what you are already in contact of. In shared use there is a bigger worry, if the person before you had some infections while touching it. But then washing your hands before you, say, pick your nose, should be enough for most scenarios.

[PhilGeis]

Wish folks would offer some citations for their assertions

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/infection-control-and-hospital-epidemiology/article/abs/bacterial-contamination-of-keyboards-efficacy-and-functional-impact-of-disinfectants/E9D4608D350EDD23A16392434874445B

[swansont]

6 minutes ago, PhilGeis said:

Wish folks would offer some citations for their assertions

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/infection-control-and-hospital-epidemiology/article/abs/bacterial-contamination-of-keyboards-efficacy-and-functional-impact-of-disinfectants/E9D4608D350EDD23A16392434874445B

While citations are good, your citation refers to efficacy of disinfectants, which was not the subject of the responses (aka assertions)

Dry conditions for two months will indeed kill some bacteria, but not all of the common ones, and most viruses. Higher temperatures (which one might expect on a laptop) tend to shorten the time.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1564025/

 

[PhilGeis]

On 10/10/2023 at 12:03 PM, swansont said:

While citations are good, your citation refers to efficacy of disinfectants, which was not the subject of the responses (aka assertions)

Dry conditions for two months will indeed kill some bacteria, but not all of the common ones, and most viruses. Higher temperatures (which one might expect on a laptop) tend to shorten the time.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1564025/

 

Please read the citations offered.  The article reported the flora recovered from keyboards.

Potential pathogens cultured from more than 50% of the computers included coagulase-negative staphylococci (100% of keyboards), diphtheroids (80%), Micrococcus species (72%), and Bacillus species (64%). Other pathogens cultured included ORSA (4% of keyboards), OSSA (4%), vancomycin-susceptible Enterococcus species (12%), and nonfermentative gram-negative rods (36%)

 

[swansont]

2 hours ago, PhilGeis said:

Please read the citations offered.  The article reported the flora recovered from keyboards.

I’m not going to fork over $36 to do so, and there was only one citation.

The summary lists pathogens, but the issue at hand was “How long do harmful germs last on a keyboard anyway?” 

[studiot]

Just a quick shuftie for those worried about bugs.

 

500 ml spray bottle alcohol cleaning / sterilising solution £7.95 + delivery  (Amazon)

brand new wired pc keyboard £7.45, deliverd (ebay) but I have seen cheaper elsewhere.

 

Personally I'd be more worried about the wave of bed bugs currently  sweeping Europe and that has now reached our shores.

[StringJunky]

5 hours ago, studiot said:

Just a quick shuftie for those worried about bugs.

 

500 ml spray bottle alcohol cleaning / sterilising solution £7.95 + delivery  (Amazon)

brand new wired pc keyboard £7.45, deliverd (ebay) but I have seen cheaper elsewhere.

 

Personally I'd be more worried about the wave of bed bugs currently  sweeping Europe and that has now reached our shores.

Bed bugs have been around millennia. Hysteria. It seems people are just beginning to realize that our life force is not the only one inhabiting our bodies. Where there is a space/niche, nature will fill it. 

Edited October 27, 2023 by StringJunky

[TheVat]

Research didn't find evidence of fomite transmission of COVID.  The antiseptic industry made out like bandits, though.

I suspect research will discover COVID did create a generation of germophobes, who will suffer lifelong immune impairment as a result.

 

[CharonY]

On 10/28/2023 at 9:27 AM, TheVat said:

Research didn't find evidence of fomite transmission of COVID.  The antiseptic industry made out like bandits, though.

I suspect research will discover COVID did create a generation of germophobes, who will suffer lifelong immune impairment as a result.

 

I will add that fomite transmission is difficult to verify outside of controlled infections. Especially when airborne pathways are more important. Based on what we know about viral characteristics, fomite transmissions is certainly possible. There is one study showing in animal models that bedding is a transmission route (though less effective than airborne transmission). 

There was a study earlier this year conducted during the alpha wave, where upper respiratory tracts and hands of index cases as well as surfaces were sampled over time and associated with household transmission. Interestingly, they found that transmission events were more strongly correlated to viral presences in the hands of index cases, the hands of infected persons and household surfaces, rather than respiratory tract samples. While not conclusive, it might suggest that in household infections (at least when folks know that there is a positive case and might take precautions, such as wearing masks) fomite infections might play a role. Or at least that it cannot be ruled out. I forgot the authors of the report but I am moderately certain that it was in the Lancet or Lancet Microbe.

[LuckyR]

On 9/29/2023 at 1:44 AM, MissDP said:

I'm probably worrying about nothing but since the pandemic I've been even more worried about germs. I was given a used laptop - the keyboard I sprayed lightly with an alcohol aerosal and then wiped down with antibacterial wipes. I didn't take the keys off, so I'm not confident that the underneath of the keys got cleaned. How long do harmful germs last on a keyboard anyway? I've had it for about 2 months and since I don't really understand microbiology and have only seen the scaremongering in adverts about germs, I'm freaking out. I didn't wait for the alcohol spray to dry either before I wiped, so I'm also freaking out that the two agents mixed and possibly cancelled out each other's ability to sanitise.

More importantly was the laptop factory reset?