Your keyboard can give you food poisoning

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A U.K. consumer organization called Which? found in a 2008 study that keyboards can be up to five times dirtier than the average toilet seat.

The major culprits for this grodiness are people not washing their hands after using the restroom and eating food at their desks. In the latter case, sticky fingers transfer sauces and edible particles onto and between the keys.

Our fingers also rub skin oils onto the keys, and overall keyboards can become a great place for germs to fester, as several studies over the years have shown.

One common bug that researchers have turned up is staphylococcus aureus, a classic causer of food poisoning, signs of which include nausea and diarrhea. Accordingly, stomach sicknesses caught from computer equipment have been dubbed "qwerty tummy" after the "Q-W-E-R-T-Y" keys on a keyboard.

A London office cleaning company told the RSC about a client who noticed "seeds" popping out of her keyboard when she pressed its buttons. The woman was puzzled because she did not eat bread or any other seed-containing food items at her desk.

Later, it was revealed that these seeds were mouse fecal pellets.