What scientific information do you know about bacteria in a public bathroom?

Question

We are doing an experiment in Biology about the best way to keep your hands germ free in a public bathroom and we heard that the blow dryers for your hands pick up the air from the (bacteria covered) floor and we have to reasurch this so it would be nice for some help.

Answer 1

when I was in highschool we swabbed areas around the school and cultured the smears on agar. This would be a great project for you guys, and it's cheap and easy to do. you don't necessarily need an incubator for something like this, and one petri dish per student is pretty cheap.
the air dryers were pretty bad. Apparently it depends on the temperature that they heat to, which is highly variable. Mostly they're warm enough to breed bacteria, but not hot enough to kill any. But, swabbing peoples hands *after* they'd used the dryer was not too bad.
Compared with the crap that breeds in paper waste over time, dryers are ok. I don't know how they'd 'pick up bacteria' from the floor. But they do harbour bacteria.
There's more bacteria on the toilet seat, on the keyboards on your communal use computers, on your pencils and on your school desk than any dryer though.

enjoy your research.
(if you do get to make some cultures - you'll notice more viruses than bacteria. and keep an eye out for fungus! every male's bathroom we swabbed came back with extreme fungus growth!)

Answer 2

I think the highest source of bacterial contamination in a public restroom is the exit door door handle.

It should be a health code LAW that restroom doors should either swing outward or have an automatic door opener.

That way after you wash your hands you would not have to touch the door handle that is exposed to microscopic airborne fecal matter 24/7. Also, I am positive that not every person washes their hands before touching that handle.

Bathroom doors that swing outward would also be physically safer. People do not routinely slam the door open and bust out of a bathroom. It is common for people to be in a very big hurry going into the bathroom and are more likely to injure someone standing just inside the door that is reaching for the handle.

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As far as testing the blow dryer theory,
I would get a handheld hair dryer
a timer that will turn on the hairdryer for 10 min every hour
2 toothbrushes
and 2 small jar lids

I would cut the brush heads off and put them into the jar lids and just enough water to barely submerge the bottom of the bristles, leaving most of the bristles exposed to air.

Set up the hair dryer and timer securely so that it blows across one of the test sample brush/lids, and move it into a restroom somewhere with a "Do Not Disturb" sign.

Place the other moist toothbrush head into the same room at the same elevation as the test brush, but not in the path of any fans.

Leave the two brushes alone for a week with the blow dryer blowing on just the test brush..

Then examine them both under a microscope and record the findings.

Any differences in the test brush will have been caused by the excess air flow and heat from the blow dryer.

BTW; expelled colon gas does contain microscopic fecal bacteria. That is the part that you smell. So the smellier the bathroom you do the experiment in the bigger the difference will be between the two brushes.

Answer 3

I have a degree in micro, and I assure you, a blower "picking up bacteria from the floor" isn't your biggest concern. Most of the bacteria tend to stick to the surface that they're in contact with and they don't aerosolize (go into the air) well at all.

If you're worried about public bathrooms and bacteria, you should be worried about a couple of key places:

* Toilet handles.
* ALL door handles.
* Sink handles.
* Soap dispenser button / lever.
* Blower button / lever.

Otherwise, stuff being blown into the air in a bathroom is a joke. Few things go into the air well and you're blocking most of that air with your hand anyway.

Answer 4

In order to collect scientific information in the bathroom, you need scientific equipment and collection tools. But the bottom line is no matter how clean you think you are, when you open the door to leave, you have just contaminated yourself again.

Answer 5

The most contaminated thing to leave the bathroom is the bottom of a women's purse. They re always setting them on the floor then they set them on their desk and get home and set them on the kitchen table or counter where they prepare your dinner ............ewwwwww!!!

Answer 6

You don't have to be a germaphobe to fear the restrooms at the baseball stadium, local McDonald's or shopping center. The common cold, E. coli and hepatitis A all lie in public toilets and sinks, waiting to pounce on you. Despite many scientific studies stating that these and many other bacteria are ever-present in washrooms, is there any real chance of you catching something serious?
Let's face it; the majority of people who read this article do not wash their hands when they stop for a bathroom break at the office. It's a sad fact, but the wife was right; we are dirty slobs. We use the urinal and, with other things on our mind, we splash some water on our hands, wipe them on our Dockers and head out.

In that two-minute trip to urinate, not only did we leave tons of germs on every surface we touched, a lot of germs attached themselves to us. What follows are some tips on how to maintain good hygiene in public washrooms as well as the straightening out of some tall toilet tales.


what can you catch?

The facts can appear grim. From a common cold to stomach flu viruses, bad things lurk on sink surfaces, hand dryers and toilet seats. Without proper care, you're at risk of being bedridden for weeks with a multitude of diseases like the nasty-sounding streptococcus (a form of strep throat and meningitis), E.coli, hepatitis A, and staphylococcus (the virus behind food poisoning and a form of pneumonia).
It is highly possible that that strange cold you caught in the middle of the summer was transmitted to you through a public washroom. Despite these true risks that exist everywhere you go to drain your main vein, not many people are willing to pull a Howard Hughes and disappear from society.


your first line of defense

There are many simple things that protect you from airborne and surface bacteria, the most powerful being your own immune system. People in decent to excellent health can afford to be reckless more often than the very young or the elderly.
While it is obviously unsanitary to not wash your hands after touching dirty surfaces, more often than not, you will come away unscathed. Your body is tough enough. Yet, when your system is already down from allergies or a cold, any introduction of pesky bacteria can extend your sick leave from days to weeks.

Healthy immune system or not, there is much you can do to avoid being a walking, talking deadly virus. Firstly, wash your damn hands! It is the key to avoiding any germs left from a previous carrier. With hot water, lather up (with soap ) for 20 to 30 seconds, not the one or two ticks you usually spend. Wash your palms and backs of your hands, in between your fingers and under your fingernails. The friction you generated has just killed off the deadliest of bathroom bacteria.

When in the bathroom stall, use your foot to flush. The toilet surface is just another place crawling with sickly potential. When you do flush, make sure you exit the stall immediately after, or else the airborne particles that fly around after you press the lever can get into your lungs and give you a cough or cold.

Use toilet seat covers or generous strips of toilet paper to cover the seat, avoiding contact of bacteria with your bottom. Tear off paper towels to open the faucet and open the door when exiting the bathroom, otherwise touching the metallic surfaces negates the thorough washing of hands. These are all straightforward, simple, logical steps everyone should take to maintain a more sanitary lifestyle. You can now shake somebody's hand and exchange greetings, instead of disease.


what can't you catch?

Scary as it seems, organisms known to carry STDs like chlamydia and gonorrhea have been found on toilet seats in your local restroom. Yet, unless you have a moderate butt laceration, there is little chance you'll get the clap. Infections such as these are called sexually transmitted for a reason; they need a genital tract or cut to travel into, which is not likely to occur.
Not only that, but these germs (and other diarrhea-causing bacteria) have a short life span and quickly die after being exposed on the seat, in the sink or anywhere else. Even in the case that you do come into contact with a germ or virus, there has to be a fair amount of it for it to have any effect.

If you sit on urine or get sprayed by toilet water as you flush -- besides being completely revolted -- there is a small chance of infection, just like any other bacteria in the washroom. It's best to wipe off the seat before you get comfortable. Don't be a bum.


quick tips to go


Avoid contact with any surface in the bathroom: cover the toilet seat with paper; use towels to open faucets and doors.
Close the lid of the toilet before flushing to block nasty airborne particles
Wash your hands thoroughly for 30 seconds with soap and hot water, then repeat.
Keep hand sanitizer handy whenever you're in a pinch and need clean hands.
While you don't have to be obsessive-compulsive about good hygiene, you can't go to the other extreme and trust that favorable statistics and a good immune system will save you.

Aside from washing your hands frequently, carrying some wet wipes or hand sanitizer will provide adequate protection. Using your wrist or a paper towel to open doors and faucets can cut your germ-exposure as well.

Despite the relatively high amount of germs present in public bathrooms, it is very simple to avoid any potential problems by following a few steps. Using common sense as a guide, there is no reason to be anxious in the bathroom. Unless you've got the runs...