Which of these three things harbors the most dangerous bacteria; keyboard, toilet or phone? Well, it’s not the toilet. Believe it or not, the toilet is the cleanest of these objects!
Studies have found that the toilet can be up to 150 times cleaner than a phone or the keyboard. They are the two main objects in your office that are most likely to cause sickness after touching. That’s because they contain millions of tiny little dangerous bacteria that range from the common cold, to MRSA and the Qwerty tummy bug, named after first six letters on the keyboard.
But hey, don’t panic. There is no need to run screaming out of the office never to return!
All you need to do is reach over to your hand sanitizer dispenser, squirt that magic germ killing liquid on your hands and hey presto, the most dangerous bugs are dead. Now that we can all breathe easy again knowing there is a quick fix for this bug problem, let’s take a closer look at what bacteria live on our phones and keyboards.
Most Dangerous Bacteria Up Your Nose
Staphylococcus aureus is a bacterium that is commonly found on our skin and in our noses. Normally it does not cause any problems, unless we have a low immunity, an open wound or touch something that has high concentrations of this bug on it.
Staphylococcus aureus can cause boils, toxic shock syndrome, cellulitis, folliculitis, impetigo, MRSA, MSSA, Scalded Skin Syndrome and even Staph food poisoning.
It gets worse though, if S. aureus gets into your bloodstream it can cause pneumonia and heart infections that can lead to heart attacks or blood poisoning. It is helpful to know that exposure to UV light will help kill S. aureus, but are you willing to take the chance of some of the most dangerous bacteria still crawling on your hands?
It’s better to be safe than sorry and get yourself a hand dispenser sanitizer to kill those germs on hand. Use hand sanitizer regularly and also anti bacterial wipes on your keyboard and phone.
Image courtesy of the Lewis Lab at Northeastern University. Image created by Anthony D’Onofrio, William H. Fowle, Eric J. Stewart and Kim Lewis.
Most Dangerous Bugs Swimming In Your Intestines
Escherichia coli or E. coli as it is commonly known, is yet another bacteria that occurs naturally within most of us. Unfortunately it is also commonly found on our phones and keyboards too.
It lives in our intestines and usually does not have any side effects, but some strains of it can make us very sick. E.coli can cause bloody diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, severe anemia, kidney failure and even death.
That is pretty gross really, especially when you think that it comes from our intestines, meaning that microscopic traces of fecal matter containing E.coli are on our desks!
You can stop this disgusting invasion by using a hand soap dispenser with anti bacterial gel after going to the toilet, as well as our friend the hand sanitizer.
Most Dangerous Animal Bacteria Inside Of Us
Enterobacteria are another type of bacteria that are also found in our intestines, as well as carried by cows, chickens and reptiles. So unless a bunch of farm animals have visited your office recently, fecal matter has made its wicked way onto your desk via somebody’s dirty hands.
Salmonella is one of the germs that makes up the enterobacteria group and it is spread by poor hygene. The symptoms are vomiting, nausea, fever, diarrhea, headache, abdominal cramps, enlarged spleen and a spotty rash.
Infection is easily preventable though; just use some antibacterial cleaner after going to the toilet and before eating.
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Using Hand Sanitizer Can Prevent Catching The Flu
But wait, there’s more! Did you know you can catch the flu or the common cold from talking on your phone? They are both spread via microscopic virus droplets which come from our colleague’s mouth and that cafe worker’s nose that swirl around in the air and also settle onto your phone sat on the table.
Because your phone is traditionally held up close to your face, you are most likely going to breathe them in and become infected yourself.
If like many of us, you are smiling away now thinking you are safe because you use a hand free kit, stop smiling. You are just as vulnerable because at some stage you would have had to touch your phone and those little sneaky virus’ are now on your hands.
Did you just look at your phone? Stop what you are doing and find the hand sanitizer dispenser right now!
Hand Sanitizer To The Rescue
Okay, so how exactly does hand sanitizer help us?
It is an antibacterial solution usually containing isopropanol or ethanol alcohol which can kill up to 99 percent of bacteria. It works by stripping off the outer layer of oil on our skin on which the most dangerous bugs are found.
The three main forms that hand sanitizer comes in are foam hand soap, antibacterial liquid and anti bacterial gel and there are many different forms of packaging. It is easily available and simple to use.
We all should have a hand sanitizer dispenser on our desks and use it regularly. And please, wash your hands after visiting the toilet. Feces on our keyboards and phones is so unattractive.
Having a bunch of dead pot plants or dusty artificial trees are not attractive features for any office. We need to take into consideration the availability (or lack of) natural light, office size, plant maintenance, type and size of plants and whether you prefer real or fake plants.
The spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum) looks good on a raised pedestal or in a handing basket, as its white and green striped leaves tumble downwards from the pot.
The mother in laws tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata), also known as a snake plant, gets its name from the long pointy leaves that make up this plant. Apart from that, the leaves have pointy, spikey ends that look like snakes and apparently taste bitter. How many of us have mother in laws that are bitter and have a sharp tongue?
The golden pothos (Epipremnum aureum) looks and behaves like ivy. It is also known as devils ivy due to the way it can grow vigorously.
This indoor plant is said to bring health, happiness and love, so having one on your desk just may improve your mood and your relationships. Be sure to count the number of bamboo stalks on your pot plant though, as feng shui says each number is said to provide a different aspect to its owner. However, by just having it in our offices, good luck and positive energy will be ours in abundance.
