February 17th, 2006
Internet Cafe Mice More Germ-Laden Than Toilet Doorknobs
By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
Remember Alice’s story on ice machines? Made you think twice about using them, didn’t it? Well, this’ll make you think twice about using mice at Internet cafes or cybergaming facilities … or the library, for that matter.
The only item found by the Korea Consumer Protection Board to carry more bacteria than a cafe mouse were handles on shopping carts, The Korea Times reported this week. Many of the items tested were found to have staphylococcus aureus, bacteria that can cause infections if contact is made with a skin wound.
The Korean consumer board examined bacteria contamination in 120 items at public places in the Seoul metropolitan area. The government organization found an average of 1,100 colony-forming units (CFUs) of bacteria per 10 square centimeters on cart handles, followed by 690 CFUs on cafe mice, and 380 CFUs on bus straps. Source: Information Week
We Say: Toilet doorknobs didn’t even make the top three! They were fourth with 340 CFUs. At any rate, now I don’t want to use shopping carts either, at least not without an antibacterial wipe. 
Daniel says:
Why is everybody so afraid of “germs” anyway? It’s not like they’re some new invention…we’ve been living with them for a looooong time now.
Go eat some dirt. It’s good for you.
February 17th, 2006 at 2:49 pm
Alice says:
I know. I am starting to get all paranoid.
February 17th, 2006 at 3:39 pm
John says:
Quoting Alice, “At any rate, now I don’t want to use shopping carts either, at least not without an antibacterial wipe.”
Haven’t you heard, antibacterial wipes are only 50% effective.
February 17th, 2006 at 7:35 pm
MikeG says:
If you really want to be sickly, use anti-bacterial wipes and soaps! These will wipe out the good germs along with the bad. Then you’ll have a fifty-fifty chance of the bad germs winning the race to propagate and making you sick. We’ve survived quite nicely for eons without all this gibberish.
February 17th, 2006 at 9:32 pm
RobV says:
Geeze, it’s the wide spread use of anti-bacterial soaps and wipes along with the improper use of anti-biotics that created all the super bugs such as MERSA or CDIFF. Those are both anti-biotic resistant strains of common bacteria that are causing major problems in the medical community. As for the staph bacteria, it’s a common bacteria that lives on everyones skin. So you can get an infection from any open wound without touching a shopping cart or internet cafe mouse. It’s easy, just don’t clean the wound.
February 17th, 2006 at 10:58 pm
ClapekDodki says:
racconti
July 16th, 2007 at 5:55 am