Posted by Lewis Davis | Posted in House & Home | Posted on 16-09-2011
Tags: bathroom safety, baths, House & Home, safe home
Oh my gosh! Did you know that when you flush the toilet, you are releasing germs and microbial bacteria into the air?
Actually, a study on this was conducted in 1975, what is currently called the ‘aerosol effect’. Charles Gerba, a specialist of microbiology and ecology at the University of Arizona, printed an article describing the effects of bacterial and viral aerosols due to toilet flushing. Gerba’s observation on the picture he took of the bacteria was similar to ‘Baghdad during a night attack’ scattering like ‘fireworks in the Fourth of July’. Before flushing the toilet, Gerba placed gauze pads on areas surrounding it and did his evaluation after the flush. That was how he determined the bacterial and viral levels of flushing toilets. He also added that microorganisms still lingered in the bathroom after two hours!
Every inch of the bathroom is contaminated, even your uncovered toothbrush on the sink’s counter can be affected.
As it goes, our mothers were telling the truth! I don’t know about the rest of the world, but here in the South, our mothers taught us girls not to ever actually sit on the toilet seat and under no circumstances to touch the flush handle with our hands. If I remember it correctly, we were taught to flush with our foot – really bad idea considering the foot has been on the floor where a lot of the contamination would fall from aerosol flushing! Shockingly, on the contrary, toilet seats were the least exposed to microorganisms except for the portion below it. The surface above is more dry in nature while the area underneath is damp, where bacteria usually proliferates.
Researches shockingly revealed that sinks were the most contaminated sections in the bathroom. The reason for this is that their wet surface attracts bacteria proliferation after microorganisms transferred from the bowl. Partly to blame is the fact that toilet bowls get more cleaning attention than bathroom sinks. A paranoid, that is how my husband sees me. However, when he reads this piece, he’ll think twice! After what I learned, I really felt disgusted by it and thought of putting myself inside an isolation suit. I also promised to myself never will I step inside a public bathroom again. Obviously, that will never happen in reality. We have no control over the cleanliness of public restrooms but we can set safety measures in our own homes. However, all kidding aside, the study is real, the exposure to all sorts of viral and bacterial matter exists such as strep, staph, hepatitis A, E. coli, shingella bacteria and the common cold and can be found in restrooms in the public and at home.
Some precautions you might want to consider are putting the lid down before you flush, wash your hands for thirty seconds with an antibacterial soap being sure to get the backs of the hands, under the fingernails and in between fingers, in public restrooms turn off faucets and open the door to prevent recontamination (this is an actual suggestion from studies – not from my paranoid, germ phobic self!), install an air purifier in the bathroom, and for heaven’s sake, go out buy yourself a new toothbrush and keep it in the cabinet or an enclosed space and not out on the counter. Make certain to maintain the cleanliness of your bathroom by using antiseptics.
Taking these simple precautions will help keep viral and bacterial contamination to a minimum and ensure safety for you and your family.
If you wish to make sure that your bathrooms are safe against any of unsafe things, guarantee bathroom safety with bathroom safety products at Safe Home.
