Non-touch cleaner zaps keyboards bugs

6 October 2010, 05:55 | Updated: 6 October 2010, 06:14

A Buckinghamshire firm says dirty germ-invested computer keyboards, can now be cleaned using ultra-violet light.

A Buckinghamshire firm says you don't need wet-wipes to stop e-coli, and forms of MRSA spreading through your office computer keyboard.

Falcon have come up with a small lamp which sits alongside a computer keyboard, which instantly zaps 99 percent of germs - just by shining ultra-violet light on the keys.

Richard Smith, Director of Biodet Labs at the University of Hertfordshire tested it, to see if the claims could be substantiated.

Speaking to Heart, he says he's impressed after 6 months of testing, the device obliterates the microbiological germs found in e-coli and forms of MRSA.

Richard says "where lots of people share computers, it's very easy to pass on germs when lots of people use the same keyboard.  When the next person uses the keyboard, without it being cleaned everytime, there's a risks of transmitting disease or certainly pass on infection".

As the device sits by the keyboard and activates automatically once the keyboard isn't in use, the idea's to get the germs
killed by the moment the next user comes along.

Mr Smith added "this kind of non-contact cleanser could prove very useful in high-infection environments like hospitals - where doctors and nurses are sharing computers on wards.

A research by Which? - found E coli present in some computer keyboards - something which can cause skin infections and make people ill.

A comparison between a typical office toilet seat and an office keyboard had one that one of keyboards was five times dirtier than the loo seat.