More important than whether you use a blanket, sit or move, is how well you clean your hands after using the bathroom, Dr. Donner said. Thanks to the toilet plume effect and the use of a hand dryer, which she said can spread germs from wet hands or nearby open trash cans up to 10 feet, any surface in a public restroom – wash handles, locks, sink faucets and exit doors, for example, can be dirty. And the most common route of infection is “charmingly called the ‘faecal-oral route'”, which occurs when pathogens from an infected person’s faeces get into your mouth after “touching contaminated surfaces and then touching your face”. said Dr. Donner.
To make hand washing effective, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends wetting your hands with clean water, rubbing them with soap for at least 20 seconds, rinsing them, and then drying them. But most people do not wash their hands long enough, and public toilets are often without soap and paper towels. Sometimes it is also difficult to wash well, as in airplane toilets with small sinks and water jets, and difficult to avoid touching the surface afterwards, said Dr. Gerba. After all visits to a public toilet, “the best option is to wash your hands and then use hand sanitizer on the way out,” he said.
Other tips to keep in mind: If you carry a bag or purse in a public restroom, avoid placing them on the floor, which is one of the dirtiest surfaces in the bathroom, Dr. Gerba said. Keep your phone tidy to avoid contaminating it, and try to avoid touching surfaces as much as you can, Dr. Donner recommended. Also, consider closing the toilet lid before flushing as a measure of public health and kindness to others; this step significantly reduces the jet in the toilet.
One thing you don’t have to worry about is getting a sexually transmitted infection in the toilet, Dr. Park said. “I will not say that it is absolutely impossible, but it is so unlikely,” she said. Pathogens such as gonorrhea and chlamydia do not survive long on surfaces and must enter the penis or vagina to cause infection, she said. “Where we sit on the toilet seat, it’s just not in the right vicinity.”
Alice Callahan is an Oregon-based health and science journalist who often works for The New York Times.
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