Your computer keyboard is 20,000 TIMES dirtier than a TOILET seat

IT'S cold and flu season again - and so keeping germs at bay is a top priority.

But did you know that when it comes to bacteria, one of the biggest threats is lurking at your desk?

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A has revealed that your keyboard is 20,000 times dirtier than a toilet seat - and your phone isn't much better either - harbouring 9,000 times the amount of germs found on your loo seat.

The research team swabbed five items in each category to determine the average number of bacteria - known as colony-forming units (CFU) - per square inch of each surface.

And the results were enough to make you feel ill - as it was discovered some of our most commonly-used items are teeming with millions of bacteria.

The team found that keyboards harbour 3,543,000 bacteria per square inch.

But, before you reach for your phone to check your emails instead, the researchers warn that's also crawling with 1,600,082 per square inch.

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Your computer mouse isn't much better - coming in at a whopping 1,370,068 bacteria per square inch -  but if you're a laptop user, you might be relieved to know your trackpad only has 810 CFU per square inch.

Surprisingly, the dirtiest item tested was the electronic ID badge - home to a stomach-churning 4,620,000 CFU per square inch, and even dirtier than a used pet toy.

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Meanwhile, the most common bacteria found was gram-positive cocci, which is found in pneumonia.

To put these numbers in perspective, a toilet seat only has 172 CFU per square inch - and money, which many people consider to be ultra-dirty, only has on average a mere five CFU per square inch.

So, while some experts believe exposure to germs isn't as bad as we may think - it might be worth giving your keyboard a wipe down every once in a while.