Guest guest Posted March 28, 2003 Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 Below is an article I pulled off Netscape this evening. It's something else to consider since so many schools have computers. Perhaps this is a 504 issue that should be addressed in your child's classroom and/or computer lab. As a solution, you could provide one of those keyboard covers stating that your child must use the cover whenever he/she has to use one of the school's keyboards. Or if your child is computer proficient at home, perhaps you can get them out of computer class altogether. By the way, though this article speaks specifically about keyboards, the mouse is also quite germy. You don't want to know how many times I've seen a kid pick his nose then reach for the mouse in computer lab. Kim Gross! Look What's On Your Keyboard By Cathryn Conroy, Netscape News Editor There is no nice way to put this. Your keyboard could be loaded with staphylococcus bacteria that has the potential to make you sick, reports TechTV. Curious as to what could be lurking on one of their own keyboards, the staff at TechTV packed up a particularly well-used sample and sent it to the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health for analysis. This keyboard was at a workstation shared by many people, some of whom ate their lunch while working on it. It was also near an office bathroom. Microbiologist Fenyong Liu took samples from the space bar and keys. The good news: Whatever is hiding down in the cracks between the keys won't hurt you, although it might affect how well your keyboard works. The problems are in the visible areas, basically anywhere your fingers touch. TechTV reporter Becky Worley says the keyboard was loaded with gram-positive bacteria, which can include staphylococcus, the organism behind " staph " infections and strep throat. " The keyboard is not clean, " Liu told TechTV. " So you are working, and then you touch your nose and maybe inoculate yourself with the bacteria that causes respiratory infection. Or maybe you bite your nails or drink coffee at the same time so that you ingest the bacteria, which potentially can cause a problem. " What can you do? Clean your keyboard! First, unplug it. To get the crumbs out, turn it over and shake it. Then clean your keyboard, desk, phone, and computer mouse with anti-bacterial wipes or alcohol wipes. (TechTV warns that frequent use of alcohol-based cleaning products can remove the black lettering from the keys.) And make sure you wash your hands frequently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 29, 2003 Report Share Posted March 29, 2003 This is already allotted in my sons 504........cleaning and sanitizing the keyboard and mouse....he also gets his own bag of art supplies and various other things that the rest of the students use.....you know how they can be picking their nose and stuffing things up their nose and putting fingers where they don't belong............. from PA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 30, 2003 Report Share Posted March 30, 2003 In a message dated 3/29/2003 6:47:41 PM Eastern Standard Time, ck570@... writes: > you know how they can be > picking their nose and stuffing things up their nose and putting fingers > where they don't belong............. > Thanks for the visual!!!!!!!!!!! I am glad I hate lunch already! LOL Rosemary from New York with 3 children with CF - they are 12.5, 10, 6...... I coined the phrase " BREATHE DAMMIT " ; we have a dog we named -are you ready for this - TOBI after their medication!!! At least it wasn't albuterol or Coly... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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