Keyboards and mice are disgusting mainly because we eat and drink at our desks. All that food feeds and nurtures colonies of bacteria and fungi.

Making matters worse, we move our hands from keyboard, to mouse to phone and back to keyboard all day. It's the microbial circle of life.

If you're the kind of person who reads Computerworld, you're touching phones, keyboards and mice all day. Worse, as an IT professional, you're probably using multiple keyboards and mice used by others. Not only are you more exposed to bugs, but you may be one of the main spreaders of these germs in your office.

So, Typhoid Mary, what are you going to do about it?

How to protect yourself