Toilet seat germs

[kkeggie]

Can you catch germs from sitting on a comunal toilet?

[hopalong]

yes

[woofgang]

oh yes uh huh...and don't get me started on flushing with the lid open

Don't read these while eating lunch!!

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990416.html

http://www.bog-standard.org/factsheet_015.aspx

[smudge]

Yes keggie - that's why washing your hands afterwards is soooo important!

[rampart]

Oh my word, that's nasty. I'm going to the garden from  now on.

[Quizmonster]

There's an old story about a man going to the doctor, who diagnoses VD. "Good grief," said the man, "I must have caught it off a toilet seat!" "Damn' funny place to take a woman!" the doctor replied.
So, one answer to your question might be: "Possibly."

[kkeggie]

Thank you

I ALWAYS wash my hands although i do notice that a LOT of women at my work (at lunch time too) walk straight out of the cubical and out the door.

YUK, i spend enough time telling my other half to wash his hands, now i have to worry about opening a contaminated exit door.

What germs can be caught from the toilet seat? i want to know if i should be "hovering" from now on!

[woofgang]

generally the ones you can catch are the ones that survive well outside the body for a while (unless you are "hot seating"...). Then they have to get inside you through a skin break or through your mucus membranes. Botty skin is safe, if unbroken. We are so designed (or toilets are lol) that anal and genital mucus mebrane is kept over the hole rather than coming into contact with the seat, but don't flush while you are seated (see links about flush plume) The way that you would be most likely to catch the germs is for instance by rubbing your eye or nose or mouth immediately after you had wiped yourself, especially if you have used insufficient paper.

You may be asking why i know so much about such a fascinating subject The answer is that I work in the NHS helping people with disabilities to be independent. One of the things that they need to work out how to do independently is use the loo and its no good their doing it if they are going to do it with an insufficient standard of hygiene and make themselves ill!

Where i work, we are also given stringent infection control training so that we don't troll round the wards and peoples homes passing on the bugs!

[kkeggie]

thank you very much, great answer.

i therefore know not to let my boyfriend kiss my bum if i havent had a bath......only joking!