How dirty are public toilets?

Public toilets are often considered unhygienic, but does this perception match reality?

Every one of us, at least once in our lives, has wondered how dirty a public toilet can be.

WE HAVE EXAMINED A PUBLIC TOILET TO FIND OUT MORE.

Toilet facilities for public use are well frequented places.The importance of personal hygiene varies for the people who use the facilities and the various products provided, and they touch the surfaces in the bathroom area.

Even if the public toilets are well designed, frequent usage together with insufficient cleaning, clearly create an ideal environment for the proliferation of bacteria.

AIM
The study aimed at identifying which objects in public toilets may become the most contaminated with bacteria, with the objective of checking if a public toilet really is a dirty place.

METHOD

In order to compare the levels of bacteria on each object we studied in the bathroom area, samples were collected from the surfaces using a swab. This procedure included the toilet, washbasin, floor, radiator, tap, handrail, toilet paper dispenser, side wall, waste paper bin, hand dryer, air vent on the ceiling, mirror and soap dispenser. After the samples were collected, the data was analyzed in a laboratory to count the amount of bacteria on each item and to obtain the result shown in the table below.

RESULTS

The dirtiest item, which was therefore contaminated, in the bathroom area wasn't the toilet seat as one would expect.
It was unexpectedly, the washbasin. As expected, however, the only item whose sample had a negative result, and therefore devoid of bacteria, proved to be the soap dispenser, the only object in the bathroom which contained the BioCote antimicrobial technology.

CONCLUSION

Our results confirm the common perception that public toilets harbor potentially high levels of bacteria. Evidently, the only element in the study that proved to be free of bacteria was the soap dispenser.
This result is particularly interesting considering that the dispenser is touched before washing hands. Doctor Michail Karavolos, microbiologist and technical director of BioCote^® states,

"in many cases, germs spread through touching surfaces, and in this way we can trace the objects touched by people after they have used them in the bathroom. Nevertheless, nobody can say that before the item wasn't already contaminated before it was touched by a user, prior to washing their hands. Even the less obvious objects and surfaces such as the floor and walls were found to be contaminated."

Doctor Michail explains that this is probably due to the fact that the cleaners tend to concentrate on the most obvious areas and objects where bacteria are expected to proliferate Unfortunately, bacteria and mould can take root anywhere and, without careful cleaning, will continue to multiply.

"We know with certainty that most of the rooms in which we live are full of germs and although they may not be necessarily harmful, the greater the number of bacteria in an area, the higher the risk of contracting diseases.
Regardless of our perception of cleaning, of any item, our study demonstrates and highlights that in reality we will never be really sure if we have properly cleaned a certain area or object, unless measures are adopted to prevent and contain the development of germs by using BioCote^® technology".

Fonte: Biocote^® Limited, maggio 2016 Read