We swabbed 30 tablets, 30 phones and 30 office keyboards and sent the specimens off for analysis. The results showed that shockingly, many keyboards and tablets were dirtier than an office toilet seat. And in some cases we had to immediately inform the owners that their computer needed serious cleaning. Enterobacteria, which can include strains of infection. such as e.coli and other bugs that cause illness, was present in high-risk levels in 8 of the 30 tablets we tested. High-risk represents more than 1,000 units of enterobacteria per swab, which compares to 10 units per swab on the toilet seat we tested. Staphylococcus aureus, which can cause severe food poisoning, was found at high levels in three of the tablet and smartphones we tested. In one case we found a tablet with a count of 600 units of staphylococcus aureus per swab. By comparison, the toilet seat we tested had a count of less than 20.
