Nobody likes to use a public toilet. No matter how clean the toilet may look, you wondered who was sitting in front of you. Whether you’re squatting, standing, sitting, or putting on a toilet seat paper cover, there’s always the risk that you may come in contact with germs that make you sick. Now, a new study has found that doing this after using a toilet or urinal makes you more susceptible to contact with potentially contaminated aerosol particles, which is particularly worrying due to COVID. Read on to find out what you should avoid doing after washing and for more things to pay attention to in the bathroom for your health, check if your urine is this color, call your doctor.
A new study from the College of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Florida Atlantic (FAU) found that you should not linger after washing a toilet or urinal, because aerosolized drops do. Washing a toilet can generate large amounts of aerosols that contain microbes, according to the study, which was published in Fluid physics on April 20. The study’s authors found that the levels of aerosols sprayed from washing in public toilets make them “foci for the transmission of airborne diseases, especially if they do not have adequate ventilation or if the toilets do not have a lid or lid” – which is most common toilets and not all urinals.
Co-author of the study Siddhartha Verma, Dr., Assistant Professor in the Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering of FAU, said in a statement that the total number of drops generated by washing a toilet has reached the range of tens of thousands.
And for more about the area of your house should not be disinfect, check CDC says you should never disinfect this.
You might think that closing the toilet lid can help prevent germs from spreading, but because the aerosolized droplets are so small, FAU researchers have found that it doesn’t make much of a difference.
The toilet and urinal both generated significant amounts of small droplets, which were detected at heights of up to five feet for 20 seconds or more after cleaning began. Smaller droplets can remain suspended in the air longer, meaning these particles pose a significant risk if they contain infectious microorganisms, Verma said. Although there were a smaller number of drops in the air when the toilet was washed with the lid closed, the reduction was not so significant, as small aerosolized drops can easily escape through the tiny gaps between the lid and the seat.
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When you think about how many people use public toilets and how rarely some of them are cleaned, it is not surprising that they present a risk of illness. According to the study, “when widely dispersed by aerosolization … pathogens can cause Ebola, norovirus that results in violent food poisoning, and COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2.”
A previous study published in 2013 in American Journal of Infection Control also noted the risk of transmitting infectious diseases from washing a toilet. Those researchers at the University of Oklahoma College of Public Health pointed out that many pathogens, including “Shigella, E coli, C difficile, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and norovirus, can survive on surfaces for weeks or even months.”
And for more on how COVID spreads, even if you took your photos, Dr. Fauci says that’s how you can catch COVID even if you’re vaccinated.
These aerosolized droplets are particularly worrisome while circulating COVID. Although respiratory transmission is the most common form of COVID transmission, “there may be alternative routes, given the discovery of a small number of viable viruses in urine and stool samples,” said FAU researchers. “Public toilets are of particular concern for the transmission of COVID-19 because they are relatively limited, have heavy traffic on the ground and may not have adequate ventilation.”
The last element is what makes public toilets risky. “The significant accumulation of aerosolized droplets generated by color over time suggests that the ventilation system was not effective in removing them from the enclosed space, even though there was no noticeable lack of airflow in the toilet,” co-author of the study Masoud Jahandar Lashaki, Dr., Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering of FAU, said in a statement.
The results of the study suggest that the incorporation of better ventilation in public spaces could help prevent the accumulation of aerosols. In the meantime, if you use a public bath during COVID, be sure to wear a mask.
To see what people receiving COVID have in common after vaccination, see 65% of vaccinated people receiving COVID have this in common, says the CDC.