EDIT: Please disregard.

Sorry, my mistake.

[edit on 2-5-2008 by Sir Francis Bacon]

This doesn't surprise me a whole lot. The toilet seat is one of the cleanest places in any home. Myth Busters did a recent segment on how much bacteria a food item would pick up when exposed to various spots on the kitchen floor, and then they tried the toilet seat as well. It wasn't even close, the kitchen floor had way more bacteria than the toilet seat.

Knowing that.. if I still had to choose between the toilet seat and kitchen floor or keyboard, etc., I'd still avoid the toilet seat. Clean or not, no thanks.

You know what sux?
I eat using my computer and work computers all the time.
The upside is im probably building some super immunity to all the nasty germs and what not.

I have written a couple of posts for this thread, and then deleted them, because they showed just how obssessive / compulsive I really am.

Originally, I tried to use Lysol(tm) to keep things clean in my home office (the "study"). It's the one place where the kids aren't allowed.

In addition to my weekly or semi-weekly Lysol-ing of lightswitches,remotes, doorknobs, drawer handles, and toilet handle (after the cleaning-woman has pre-disinfected it, of course), I tried to disinfect my computer including keyboard, volume controls, CD operner, boot button, etc.

The problem is, Lysol degrades plastic with repeated application.

I am currently working on a system to sterilize my keyboard using UV light. I'm not sure how many lumens per second it will take. Once work slows down, the oldest child and I will get out my microscope and take some cultures before and after exposure to UV.

Yes, I have thought about using rubber gloves for the "public" computer at work. *shudders.* But I'm allergic to latex So I've settled on just surrounding the public computer with hand sanitizer dispensers, buying a slipcover for the keyboard, and washing my hands of the issue.

Don't even get me started on the public toilet. My employers have repeatedly refused my requests for my own personal bathroom at the office. I try to control my BMs to the point where I only sit down on Tues, Thurs or Saturday in the afternooons, just after the janitors have "cleaned" the facilities, and before most of the lumpenproletariat have digested their lunches.

For emergencies, I keep some flushable wetwipes in my desk, since the mens room usually has the toilet paper just lying on the back of the toilet, and people touching it repeatedly while in the process of wiping themselves.

.