Give it a wash and wipe

In a recent online poll, Young Post found that 75 per cent of the 125 readers who answered very rarely or never clean their computer keyboards. Yet keyboards are one of the tools we use most in everyday life; not cleaning them is like not washing bed linen.

With computers, touch screens and headphones, we constantly type, press, swipe and plug in. And with mobile multifunctional products like iPhones or iPads, we tend to share our devices more. This means, on an invisible scale, we're also sharing one another's germs.

Dr Lo Wing-lok, a specialist in infectious disease, says our hands are the dirtiest parts of our bodies. 'We do everything with our hands, so we are constantly exchanging germs with the environment,' Lo says.

'Most of the time, we don't think of washing our hands before touching a keyboard. This makes our keyboards one of the dirtiest elements in our environment. It is the same thing with the telephone, lift buttons or [touch-screen] devices.'

He says headphones are slightly cleaner, because we don't have a habit of holding on to escalator handrails with our ears.

Viruses and bacteria can be transmitted by touch. But William Chui Chun-ming, vice-president of the Society of Hospital Pharmacists, says the chances of getting sick from such viruses are very low. 'Viruses can hardly survive in an open environment,' he says.

People should be more concerned with bacteria instead. The Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli bacteria are easily picked up. Those bacteria usually cause minor discomfort such as abdominal cramps, diarrhoea or skin infections, like abscesses and boils. But they can also develop into more serious diseases, like blood or lung infections. But there's no need to panic. Follow a few simple rules to keep away from trouble.