Sick and tired of work?

With your deadline approaching, paper is strewn everywhere, a dirty coffee mug with three-day –old grime sits in the corner and you start to feel hungry.

You whip out the Tupperware container with leftovers from last night’s tofu stir-fry and tuck in.

But unlike the home, where people meticulously make sure their environment is clean, most people forget about their work desk in the hustle and bustle of the day.

US scientists found that less than half of their country men bother cleaning their desk before a meal.  In 2002, researchers found that the workplace hosted its fair share of germs.  The humble telephone has up to 25,127 germs per square inch, keyboards 3295 per square inch and computer mice 1676 per square inch.

America’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention found 43 per cent of people surveyed seldom or never washed their hands after sneezing or coughing, 32 per cent didn’t always wash their hands before lunch and 54 per cent didn’t wash long enough.