Your sickening desk?

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

Your desk has more germs than the toilet seat that you use. The

numbers are impressive in this message from CNN.

Is your desk making you sick?

Experts: Office equipment swarming with germs

By

CNN

(CNN) -- With cold and flu season reaching its peak and flu vaccine

in short supply, many Americans may want to hide at their desks to

avoid those hacking and sneezing co-workers. But health experts say

that could be the very place that makes them sick.

A study by the University of Arizona in 2002 found the typical

worker's desk has hundreds of times more bacteria per square inch

than an office toilet seat. If that's not disturbing enough, desks,

phones and other private surfaces are also prime habitats for the

viruses that cause colds and flu.

Bacteria, single-celled organisms, can cause strep throat, pneumonia

and other conditions. They can be treated with antibiotics. However,

viruses, which are smaller than bacteria, cause colds and flu and

cannot be treated with antibiotics.

Dr. Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona,

counted bacteria on workplace surfaces for a study sponsored by The

Clorox Co., makers of Clorox bleach.

Office toilet seats had 49 germs per square inch, he found. But

desktops had almost 21,000 germs per square inch. Phones were worse --

more than 25,000 germs per square inch.

Desks, phones, computer keyboards and mice are key germ transfer

points because people touch them so often, Gerba said, adding that

coughing and sneezing can leave behind " a minefield of viruses " that

can live on a surface for up to three days. But health experts say

that simple office hygiene can reduce infection risks dramatically.

" We know that 80 percent of the infections you get are transmitted

through the environment, " Gerba said.

Bacteria cafeteria

Wiping down work areas with disinfectant wipes every day reduces

bacteria significantly, Gerba said.

But at many offices, custodians don't touch people's desks to avoid

accidental misplacement or loss of important documents.

" Nobody ever cleans a desktop until they start sticking to it, from

what we've found, " he said. " A lot of people eat and slop on their

desks all the time so it basically turns into a bacteria cafeteria

during the day, and that's one of the reasons you get a lot on your

desktops. "

Roslyn Stone, chairwoman of the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention's Workplace Flu Prevention Group, had another low-tech

recommendation -- washing your hands.

" Soap and hot water for 18 to 20 seconds as frequently as you can

remember to do it is going to be your single most effective

prevention tip this season, " she said.

Stone also urged people not to go to work if they're sick to avoid

spreading the disease to their co-workers.

However, she acknowledged that it can be hard to stay home since the

peak flu months are December and January -- the busiest time of year

for retailers and a time when many workers have either used all their

sick time or are rationing it to last through the New Year.

Lori Rosen, a workplace analyst with CCH Incorporated, recommended

that companies put together guidelines to tell their employees when

to stay home and when it is OK to come to work.

" Sometimes people don't know, and even though they know when they

should keep their kids home from school, they don't know that about

themselves because they think, 'Well, I'm an adult I can deal with it

differently,' but in fact it probably isn't, " she said.

Stone said a basic guideline would be for workers to stay home until

they are free of symptoms -- fever, sore throat, nausea or diarrhea --

for at least 24 hours.

Flu costs

Workers in the United States miss an average of 1.5 days per year

because of the flu and that could cost businesses $20 billion in lost

productivity this year, said Harvard University health economist

Cutler.

He said the shortage of vaccine could make the problem larger than

most years.

" There's this hero thing that people think 'If I can get myself

dressed in some manner and drag myself -- even if somebody has to

drive me -- to the office, I'll go in,' " Rosen said.

Dr. Ron Goetzel, director of the Cornell Institute for Health and

Productivity Studies, said that this sort of " presenteeism " puts

other workers at risk and also hurts companies' bottom lines.

" The employer is paying you to come in and work, " he said " and ...

you're suffering from a condition that knocks off two out of 8 hours

of the day. In a sense the employer is paying you for a full day of

work but you're only delivering 75 percent of that. "

Cheers, Alan Pater