Shared Computers, Shared Germs

Bacteria and viruses: perpetual contaminants

• Every year, 10%-20% of Americans become ill with the flu (influenza). (Source: Focus On The Flu: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease: NIAID).
• Expressed another way, approximately 25% of the population has flu-associated illness annually, leading to an average of 20,000 to 40,000 deaths per year.
• “According to health care experts, infectious diseases caused by microbes are responsible for more deaths worldwide than any other single cause. They estimate the annual cost of medical care for treating infectious diseases in the United States alone is about $120 billion.” (Source: Microbes in Sickness and in Health - Publications, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases: NIAID)

Hospital-acquired Infections

• Hospital-acquired infections rank as the fourth leading cause of death in America.
• The numbers are staggering: according to the CDC, two million patients fall ill to infections in hospitals each year. More than 100,000 patients die annually as a result, which is as many as those who die from breast cancer, AIDS and motor vehicle accidents — combined.
• As of October 2008, Medicare will no longer reimburse hospitals for the cost of treating a number of preventable infections acquired there (called nosocomial infections). The hospitals must take a loss, since they also are not allowed to charge the sick patients for the cost of treatment.
• Infections acquired through contamination are the most difficult to treat, because they are often antibiotic-resistant.
• If antibacterial wipes are used improperly or reused, they can actually cause contamination of clean surfaces, according to a recently published UK study.
• Alcohol-based disinfectants do not provide sustained activity against vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus species and P. aeruginosa.

Infections Acquired in Schools

• American children miss 22 million days of school each year due to colds, flu and other infections, according to pediatrician Dr. Paul Horowitz in Clean Up the Classroom Scholastic Survey: Teachers Tell All; (American Medical Association media briefing).
• In addition, Dr. Horowitz said that the average American child contracts 6.5 colds each year, with each cold lasting at least 3-5 days. He added, “Besides keeping kids home from school and lowering their in-school performances, infections like these cause parents to miss an estimated 126 million workdays annually caring for a sick child.”
• Teachers suffer as well; the typical teacher now takes an average of 5.3 sick days each school year.

Computer Keyboards as Disease Vectors

• The average keyboard contains more than 3000 microbes per square inch, “Computers are ubiquitous in the healthcare setting and have been shown to be contaminated with potentially pathogenic microorganisms,” wrote William A. Rutala, PhD, MPH, from the University of North Carolina Health Care System in Chapel Hill in an article published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. (Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2006;27:372-377) Dr. Rutala has authored several studies on the subject of contamination in hospitals.
• In one study Dr. Rutala conducted of hospital keyboards, “More than half of the keyboards harbored coagulase-negative staphylococci (100% of keyboards), diphtheroids (80%), Micrococcus species (72%), and Bacillus species (64%). Other pathogens cultured were ORSA (4% of keyboards), oxacillin-susceptible S. aureus (4%), vancomycin-susceptible Enterococcus species (12%), and nonfermentative Gram-negative rods (36%).”
• Food eaten near the computer provides an easy way for disease-causing molds to take hold. One type is Green Mold (Aspergillus flavus), which thrives on bread and yeasty crumbs, and can lead to lung and liver infections, liver cancer, allergies and asthma.
• Similarly, residue from salad, fruit or cheese encourages the growth of Black Mold (Aspergillus niger), which thrives in decaying vegetable matter and stale food in general. Black Mold can cause a chronic fungal growth of the ear canal, as well as allergic aspergillosis, a hypersensitive allergic lung disease resulting from repeated inhalation of Aspergillus spores.
• Salmonella and E. coli are readily identified as keyboard contaminants, most likely deposited there by the unwashed hands of prior users. These pathogens cause gastroenteritis, and if not treated properly, severe life-threatening illness.
• Viruses such as Hemophilus influenza (human flu), can quickly settle on the keyboard surface after an infected coworker coughs or sneezes.
• Resistant bacteria such as MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) causes life-threatening infections of the skin and soft tissues, as well as necrotizing pneumonia. MRSA can stay alive on hard surfaces such as keyboards and soft surfaces such as clothing, for up to three months.

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