toilet seats

[Amy]

I thought this was interesting...found it on Ask Yahoo!

Dear Yahoo!:
Do toilet seat covers provide any real protection?
Lisa
Denver, Colorado

Dear Lisa:
Nope, but your seat doesn't really need protecting. All those paper covers do is mentally separate your backside from the countless bums that have occupied the same space. Before anyone gets their panties in a twist, let's listen to a few medical resources:
"To my knowledge, no one has ever acquired an STD on the toilet seat -- unless they were having sex on the toilet seat!" according to Dr. Abigail Salyers, president of the American Society for Microbiology, quoted on WebMD.

"It's OK to sit down. Most organisms that cause STDs will not survive for long on a toilet seat," notes Dr. Sherry Marts, scientific director of the Society for Women's Health Research, on the Swedish Medical Center's site.

As Columbia University's Health Promotion Program sums up: "Because toilet seats are not major culprits in spreading disease, paper or plastic seat covers offer little more than peace of mind." In fact, you have more to fear from bathroom door handles and faucets than from commodes.

And while we're on the topic, you might consider something to cover that phone receiver. A University of Arizona microbiology team tested a dozen office surfaces including the bathroom. The scientists found that phone receivers had 25,000 bacteria per square inch, while toilet seats had only 49 bacteria per square inch. Talk about calling in sick!

[Dragon_Cooler]

i have never heard of getting STDs from toilet seats but i have heard of other diseases like worms and such. what about those?!?!??!!

Reguardless of what that says im still sticking to a layer of protection if i cant hold it!! LOLO

[-mogwai]

that's not entirely true. you can catch chlamydia through contaminated seats relatively easily... in almost all cases, it's men who catch it. it happens when a dude's wang touches the inside of the seat or the rim and then someone else's wang touches it.

also, plenty of people catch crabs through unclean seats, too.

however, the most danger toilets pose for humans are:

- standing up to pee
- flushing

standing up to pee, even though you get it all in the toilet, splashes enough for tiny droplets to spread all over your bathroom (on your toothbrush, in your rinsing cup, etc), causing it to harbor tons of bacteria which can potentially get you sick.

the other danger, flushing, does the same thing, except to a worse and greater extent because of fecal matter. e. coli and other enterobacterobacteria directly cause lots of illnesses.

this is where toilet seat lids come into play... close the lid before you flush and you'll be fine. also, make sure you clean your bathroom regularly.

if you don't believe me, go clean your toothbrush holder (dishwasher), swab your toothbrush holder and run lab tests on it... then, use the bathroom for like a week and then swab your toothbrush holder afterwards and run the same lab tests on it. you'll be pretty surprised of what you find.

[Dragon_Cooler]

im never going to the bathroom again!!!! :barf:

i dont care if i die from internal combustion1!! Whabam from the inside FTW!!!

[kenc51]

this is where toilet seat lids come into play... close the lid before you flush and you'll be fine. also, make sure you clean your bathroom regularly.

I seen an episode of "myth busters"
They proved that having the seat down makes things worse!
Chemical Bio hazard suit anyone?

I'll take liquid lunches from now on ;)

[Amy]

Were they able to explain why having the lid down makes things worse?

I've seen an episode of Myth Busters that found that when you keep your toothbrush in the kitchen, it collects more bacteria than when you keep it right next to the toilet...

[kenc51]

Were they able to explain why having the lid down makes things worse?

I've seen an episode of Myth Busters that found that when you keep your toothbrush in the kitchen, it collects more bacteria than when you keep it right next to the toilet...

Something to do with how the water flows and splashes......sorry I don't pay too much attention to this show, usually I'm eating my dinner then LOL (thanks my appitite is now gone ;) )

[bubba]

the cleanest surface is the seat of the "throne" in a normal well kept house. mostly due to the fact its cleaned the most often and the degree to wich its cleaned.

any bar, store, or dreaded gas station there is no telling when the last time it was cleaned nor the condition of the backside that was the just before.

[FZ1]

Is this like the Seinfeld "tractor story"?

[Zelig]

also, plenty of people catch crabs through unclean seats, too.

standing up to pee, even though you get it all in the toilet, splashes enough for tiny droplets to spread all over your bathroom (on your toothbrush, in your rinsing cup, etc), causing it to harbor tons of bacteria which can potentially get you sick.

Any sources for these?

Urine is sterile for the most part, so it doesn't normally transfer bacteria if it gets on stuff...

[Amy]

Flushing Out the Truth

...on average, per square centimetre, your desk has 50 times more bacteria than your toilet seat!...Dr. Gerba has also studied germ counts in the house, and by doing so, discovered the right way to flush the toilet. You should flush with the lid down. If you flush with the lid up, a polluted plume of bacteria and water vapour erupts out of the flushing toilet bowl. The polluted water particles float for a few hours around your bathroom before they all land. Some of them will land on your tooth brush. Dr Gerba also found that in the home, the kitchen sponge had the highest germ count, followed by the kitchen sink. The lowest bacteria count, out of 15 household locations, was the toilet seat...The results were astonishing. In terms of bacteria per square inch, they found that the phone receiver was the filthiest - 25,000 (probably because many people can share the same phone). This was followed by the desktop at 21,000, the computer keyboard at 3,300 and the computer mouse at 1,700. The least contaminated surface was the toilet seat with only 49 bacteria per square inch - making it about 50 times cleaner than the desktop. Gerba says that, for bacteria, the "desk is really the laptop of luxury. They can feast all day from breakfast to lunch and even dinner."

crabs

A common misbelief is that crabs can be spread by sitting on a toilet seat. This isn't likely, according to the CDC, since lice can't live long if they're away from a warm human body. Also, lice do not have feet designed to walk or hold onto smooth surfaces such as toilet seats.

[-mogwai]

also, plenty of people catch crabs through unclean seats, too.

standing up to pee, even though you get it all in the toilet, splashes enough for tiny droplets to spread all over your bathroom (on your toothbrush, in your rinsing cup, etc), causing it to harbor tons of bacteria which can potentially get you sick.

Any sources for these?

Urine is sterile for the most part, so it doesn't normally transfer bacteria if it gets on stuff...

urine IS sterile, like i said before, but that doesn't stop it from being an excellent media for airborne bacteria to culture and grow.

my sources = my microbiology class and experiments.

[Amy]

You won't believe this:

Toilet Seats Have Less Germs Than Your Desk?! @ Futurelooks

[Amy]

corrected link:

FutureLooks

[T-Shirt]

my sources = my microbiology class and experiments.

Your major is? crapology? toilet sanitation engineer?
(Not critisizing, as your info matches mine, just wondering about formal experiments)

[bigblockmatt]

Your major is? crapology?

HAHAHA thats funny.

[-mogwai]

Your major is? crapology? toilet sanitation engineer?
(Not critisizing, as your info matches mine, just wondering about formal experiments)

getting my doctorate in chiropractic

[T-Shirt]

All this worry about germs, when the real bathroom killer is....

Running out of toilet paper
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/ ... TE=DEFAULT

[Amy]

Good point. That reminds me, I need to go buy some more paper soon before Illuminati pulls out the claw hammer...

[-mogwai]

Good point. That reminds me, I need to go buy some more paper soon before Illuminati pulls out the claw hammer...

.... uh...

claw hammer? that's pretty disgusting...

at least a towel or something...