INTRODUCTION

Microorganisms play a very important role in our lives. Some microbes cause

diseases but the majority is completely harmless. In fact, we couldn’t live without them

but they can live without us. These microscopic organisms play a key in maintaining

life on Earth, fixing nitrogen gas and breaking down dead plant and animal matter into

simpler substances that are used at the beginning of the food chain. Biotechnologists

can also exploit the activities of microbes to benefit humans, such as in the production

of medicines, enzymes and food. They are also used to breakdown sewage and other

toxic wastes into safe matter in the process is called bioremediation (Microbiology

Online Society [MOS], 2019). Microbes are very small living organisms, so small that

most of them are invisible. The majority can only be seen with a microscope, which

magnifies their image so we can see them. In fact, microbes are so tiny you would find

over a million in a teaspoon of soil. They make up more than 60% of the Earth’s living

matter and scientists estimate that 2-3 billion species share the planet with us. Microbes

occupy in many different sources and they can contaminate both living and non-living

things even without knowing it. Anyone can get microbes from many different sources

like anything that we touched and even airborne microorganisms (MOS, 2019).

In Central Mindanao University (CMU), internet café becomes a growing

business in which students are the primary clients. These internet cafés offer internet

surfing, gaming, communications and entertainment. In CMU campus, some of these

cafés are located in the University Market. Previous researches revealed that microbes

may reside and grow on keyboards, mouse and even headphones and may transfer to

its users upon contact (Ablaza et al., 2011). Students of CMU are prone to these

microorganisms from Internet Cafés. Ablaza et al., (2011) reported that Acinetobacter

lwofii was the most isolated gram-negative bacteria, while bacilli as the most isolated