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Shared computer keyboards may have been partly responsible
for a 2002 outbreak of conjunctivitis, a type of eye infection
also called "pink-eye," among students at a New
Hampshire college.
Researchers did not find signs of the conjunctivitis-causing
bacteria on 40 to 60 public keyboards, however they were able
to place bacteria on a keyboard and later recover samples
in a laboratory experiment.
It is not known whether the experiment actually recreated
what happens in real life when keyboards are shared. It is
also not known whether the bacteria on the college keyboards
would have been found if more sensitive culturing techniques
were used.
Researchers are not certain that the keyboards, which are
used by most of the college’s students up to 20 times
each day, are responsible for spreading germs but say that
good hygiene, such as hand washing, when using public computers
couldn’t hurt.
Many pathogens including those that cause diarrhea, skin
infections, colds and other respiratory infections can survive
on surfaces for varying lengths of time. Researchers noted
that keyboards would be just as likely to spread germs as
other surfaces.
Conjunctivitis is an inflammation of the eyelids that is
relatively harmless. It is caused by a virus or bacterium
and can be easily spread through person-to-person contact
such as eye secretions, sneezing and coughing.
During the outbreak, about 10 percent of the study body,
or nearly 500 students, contracted conjunctivitis.
New
England Journal of Medicine June 19, 2003;348:2577-2578
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