Self Cleaning Mouse

mikesd81 writes "LEWIS Wire is reporting on a self-cleaning mouse that disables the survival of bacteria with an auto-disinfecting surface. From the article: 'According to a recent survey from the University of Arizona, the average desk harbors 400 times more bacteria than the average toilet seat. Despite this, office workers rarely have time to clean their desktops frequently or thoroughly enough to be effective. As a result, the presence of microbes contributes to the spread of pneumonia, the flu, pink eye and strep throat, among other extremely contagious viruses.'"

Toilet Seats!!!

[splatacaster]

Toilet seats have very few bacteria as they are made of non-porous material. So trying to say they have 400 times the bacteria is not really that outrageous of an amount.

Re:Whats wrong with hygiene?

[osee]

"cleaning" does not kill germs. It pushes them around a bit.
Disinfection does. Which I practically never do anywhere except for the kitchen sink, garbage can and the bathroom/toilet.

Speaking of which, the average publich toilet gets a thorough (? :-)) scrubbing with nasty disinfectants several times a day.
I would expect it to be cleaner than say my keyboard. I would not want to dip that in Domestos/Bref whatever.

Re:Oh no! "bacteria"!

[sabernet]

I'm no biologist, but isn't that just 'upping the ante'?

By making a service no current bug can live on, won't it leave a whole new world for tha one bug that happens to mutate in such a way to be tolerant(considering about divisions bacteria make with the percentage of mutation which is only likelier to increase given adverse conditions that may cripple its DNA). A la current anti-bacterial super-bug problem?

Re:Whats wrong with hygiene?

[God'sDuck]

yeah...but i kinda figure if i wash my hands somewhat regularly, then the germies on my keyboard have become *my* germies over time...i don't expect to actually get sick when exposed to 400 or 4000 percent more of the germs i'm exposed to every day -- that my body's used to fighting -- when compared to a single exposure to someone with a novel strain of the flu.

Re:Oh no! "bacteria"!

[elrous0]

Isn't influenza spread by a virus, not bacteria?

-Eric

my self cleaning keyboard

[pizpot]

I find the best way to clean a keyboard is dump a cup of coffee on it. The replacement is generally spotless! (remind me not to try to disasemble another keyboard--obviously made by aliens)

Copper?

[MrP-(at work)]

Wouldn't it be easier to just make a copper mouse? Copper kills germs.

Plus after time your mouse will go from copper color to green, so you'll get 2 styles for the price of 1

area vs. use

[borgalicious]

Yes, the seat may be smaller but one should hope that you spend considerably less time in the lavatory than at your desk. Furthermore, people tend to wash their hands after using the toilet but not after using the phone or chewing on the end of someone else's pen; shaking hands with someone is probably the best vector for pathogen transmission in the office.

Someone once said: I get up, shower, ride a bus to work, use my computer, use the community coffee pot, shake many hands, use my neigbor's phone, and then go pee and wash my hands - while my penis is probably the cleanest thing I've touched today.

Re:Special coating???

[Anonymous Coward]

Titanium dioxide and elemental silver are being used in bathroom caulk to stop fungal growth.

It works very well there.

"Nano particle" is marketer speak for "we grind this shit up really small before we spray it on".

I have no idea the thickness of the coating, but at least while new, this should work for a while. Frankly, I'd rather save my antibacterial weaponry for things that matter, but having these at the nurses' station in hospitals might actually be a very good idea.