How best to flush your toilet

Most people never give any thought to the need to cover the toilet bowl before flushing it. But this is one practice that experts indicated spread disease-causing germs into the air and so should be discouraged.

When next you visit the loo, please, remember to cover the toilet bowl with its lid before flushing it. Doing so will reduce environmental contamination from toilet bacteria that are on nearby surfaces being transmitted to another person, very substantially.

Surprised? Experts in a new study found that flushing the toilet with the lid up can spray diarrhea-causing bacteria into the air. The study, which was carried on hospital toilets, detected C. difficile - a germ that can cause diarrhea and even life-threatening inflammation of the colon - nearly 10 inches above the toilet seat after flushing lidless hospital toilets.

C. difficile is frequently found in hospitals and long-term care facilities where antibiotics are commonly used.
The scientists who conducted the research were interested in how germs spread in hospitals, especially when it comes to superbugs that could kill everyone. They filled a hospital-style lidless toilet with drug-resistant C. difficile bacteria and recorded the presence of bacteria on surrounding surfaces.

According to the researchers, C. difficile was spotted on surrounding surfaces 90 minutes after flushing, with an average of 15 to 47 contami-nated toilet water droplets landing in the nearby environment. It was found on the cistern, to the right and left of the toilet seat and on the floor.

Of course, the study focused on hospital toilets. Nonetheless, the findings could be extended to public restrooms and households because unhygienic practices can increase the spread of germs through any toilet.

Smells and droplets in an invisible cloud, even in household toilets can possibly infect unsuspecting people. These germs, which spread throughout the restroom easily replicate on various surfaces including the wall and toilet tissues that are in close proximity.

Worse still is the possibility of getting these airborne particles in the lungs by inhaling them, from which one could easily contract a cough or cold.

Except in some public spaces, most toilet bowls have lids attached but not everyone puts them down when they flush, although there is the possibility of droplets of disease-ridden water spewing all over everything in the room in the course of flushing after its use. Some bugs spread more easily to surfaces this way and the norovirus is thought to be one of them.

In fact, a study carried out in 2004 found lidless toilets did indeed spray water onto surrounding surfaces - including toothbrushes. Toothbrushes kept in the restroom during the flushing were also speckled with fecal bacteria.

What is more, another study warned that no less than five main types of bacteria exist in the restroom. They included strepto-coccus, staphylococcus, E. coli and shigella bacteria, hepatitis A virus and the common cold virus.
Staphylococci, the germ that causes problems in the digestive tract, urinary tract infections and toxic shock syndrome in women. Streptococci, which cause sore throat infections, are spread through contact with infected or healthy carriers. E. coli also causes diarrhea.

In addition, Salmonella is found in human and animal faeces due to contaminated food or water. It causes headaches, nausea and vomiting. Similarly, Campylobactor, which is found in human and animal intestines, causes diarrhea.

But Dr Hannah Adegbola- Dada, a consultant medical microbiologist, University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State stated that from basic principles of science, air droplets can be formed when flushing the toilet, said the habit of covering the toilet bowl before flushing after use is one that many people would find hard to conform to considering the fact they would want to be sure that indeed the toilet was properly cleaned.

Dr Adegbola-Dada, pointing out that aerosol are easily made when water flow down a gradient, as it is the case when flushing the toilet, stated that aerosol with infective organisms can land on surfaces, including the body of the person that has flushed the toilet as well as get inhaled .

According to her, “it will be advisable really advisable to change our practice in flushing our toilets, although it is not a general practice that many people would easily imbibe except appropriate awareness is created in the community.”

The expert suggested that people imbibe the habit of regular washing with soap and water to ensure they are protected from contracting infections in the community. “Hand washing have been proven scientifically to reduce the rate at which infections spread by over 50 per cent. So individuals must wash and keep washing. They must not be weary of hand washing,” she said.

However, the medical expert cautioned that liquid soaps are better off in washing of hands as it reduces the possibility of spreading of bacteria from one user of the bar soap to another.

Dr Adegbola-Dada stated: “People must not have the impression that their body had already developed some immunity against infections. It is only when the body had been exposed enough to the germ that it starts to give symptoms of a health problem.”

So how best can individuals ensure they are protected from contracting germs in their restroom? Experts indicated this to include good hand washing after using the toilet as well as keeping things such as tooth brushes, contact lenses and hand towels at least three feet from your toilet or enclosed in a cabinet.

Most obviously, bathrooms should be cleaned with bleach and hot water, and then wipe dry even more meticulously than before, with emphasis not just on and around the toilet, but equal emphasis on all areas of the bathroom because all areas are equally affected by the spray.

Toilet seats have actually been determined to be the least infected place in the bathroom because the environment is too dry to support growth of a large population of germs. But, the place in a restroom with the highest concentration of microbial colonies is the sink, due in part to accumulations of water where these organisms breed freely after landing their aerial journey.

However, the question is how many people practise good hand washing after every restroom visit? More importantly, the number of people who wash their hands effectively using soap and water is few. Simply rinsing one’s hands under running water for a few seconds without soap, as some people do, is not effective at all.

The way to ensure maximum standard of hygiene is to lather your palms, the back of your hands, in between fingers, and under fingernails for between 20 and 30 seconds with soap and hot water; the friction will kill the bathroom germ.