Warning: Your Computer Can Give YOU A Virus
Here's some happy news from Healthday. Your computer keyboard or mouse is quite capable of transmitting the stomach flu to you or from you to others. The nasty little norovirus can live on those - and other - surfaces for days. Yes, Virginia, you can catch this particular little sucker from a doorknob.
THURSDAY, Jan. 3 (HealthDay News) — The highly contagious norovirus, often called the stomach flu, can be passed from one person to another through contact with commonly shared items such as computer keyboards and computer mice, U.S. health officials report.
The virus, which is common in winter and is the most frequent cause of outbreaks of vomiting and diarrhea in the United States, is often contracted in schools, at work and on cruise ships.
On Thursday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on a norovirus outbreak at a Washington, D.C., elementary school last February in which some of the victims picked up the virus from contaminated computer equipment.
"There is evidence that shared objects and surfaces help transmit disease," said Dr. Shua Chai, a CDC epidemiologist and co-author of the report, published in the Jan. 4 issue of the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
"This is the first time that we have demonstrated that keyboards and computer mice can be a source of transmission of norovirus," he added.
Of the 314 students and 66 staffers at the D.C. school, 103 came down with the illness — 79 students and 24 staff members. To find the sources of contamination, samples were taken from various surfaces around the school. In one first-grade classroom, a computer mouse and keyboard tested positive for norovirus, according to the report.
Obviously, the best technique to avoid spreading this is the simplest: wash your hands. A lot. And stay home if you're sick. We do not recommend trying extreme methods to decontaminate surfaces, however. Flames will also kill the virus, but wreak havoc on the computer. After the firemen get done here, we'll be back with more posts.
By NortonPete, Thursday, 3 January , 2008 @ 7:04 pm
A light bulb just went off before the VT game. Does anyone make a small handheld steamer?
It would hold about a 1/2 cup of water and produce a mist of steam.
Instead of wiping down a phone or keyboard you would just hit it briefly
with a bit of steam. It wouldn’t hurt the surface just sanitize it.
By Gaius, Thursday, 3 January , 2008 @ 7:24 pm
Nah. Someone would steam their keyboard until it dissolved - then sue.
By Maggie, Thursday, 3 January , 2008 @ 7:59 pm
Maggie’s Mum is a [dreaded] telemarketer … Mum ALWAYS wipes down her entire phone/computer station with antiseptic wipes before sitting down for her shift.
Having said that … Stuff some of those handy wipe thingy packets (they come in antiseptic formula) in your purse or coat pocket (especially if you have a baby/toddler/child you put in the store buggies) and take a moment to wipe down the handle … and the surrounding areas where a sitting baby/child would touch (or bite down) on the buggy … Do this just one time and you WILL do it forever, once you see how filthy they are. Especially during the “cold and flu” months with buggies being left out in the damp parking lot most bacteria and virus NEED a moist/damp/wet media to remain alive.
By sam, Friday, 4 January , 2008 @ 3:08 pm
I hope that information like this will hasten the spread of the no- touch, just wave your hand in front of the appliances in public restrooms.