Can you really catch any nasty diseases from sitting on a toilet seat?

Question

There are so many myths about this. If you can, what will you catch?

Answer 1

It's highly unlikely. The seat part of the toilet is usually very clean, and tests have shown that per square centimetre, your office desk has 50 times more bacteria than a toilet seat. In fact, you probably have more germs in your kitchen sink.

Also, if you think about it, normally only the backs of people's legs touch a toilet seat, and it's not very easy to transmit disease that way.

Answer 2

You can get cooties, and that's about it. Sexually transmitted diseases are spread via sexual intercourse with an infected person. Most of them are spread more easily from male to female. The diseases vary in how infectious they are, but none of them are spread on toilet seats (well, assuming you're using the toilet seat for what it was intended). Most bugs don't tend to live on cool, hard surfaces.

I could add that a couple of diseases - syphilis and herpes - can be spread by direct non-sexual contact with infectious lesions, so make sure there is not an infected person already on the toilet when you sit down. One should consider HOW people sit on toilet seats. Genital and anal infections most likely would not come in contact with the seat in normal use. Intact skin is a good barrier against most disease organisms ... unless of course one were to pick up a bacterium or virus on the seat, then immediately plant their buttocks on someone's nose and mouth. If this were to happen to me, disease transmission would be the least of my concerns.

As far as other kinds of diseases that have different routes of transmission, such as oral/fecal or airborne, the hands are more to blame for spreading these diseases than the bottom is. Shake hands with a carrier, touch your eyes or mouth, and voila! You've caught that person's cold or influenza. Eat food prepared by a person with hepatitis A (who didn't wash their hands after using the toilet), and hey, you've got hepatitis! I guess theoretically if you sat on feces on the seat, got some on your hands when you wiped yourself, then licked your fingers (mmm, mmm!) you could possibly get hepatitis A, but it isn't a primary route of transmission. Urine doesn't carry any common diseases that I know of, but I sure hate it when people leave the seat wet.

Answer 3

If the toilet not clean it s probably true diseases always find it way to a open in your body like a cut. If the toilet is very dirty and smelling don t use it. if poops is on the toilet seat than yes because that s full of diseases espacially bacteria.

Answer 4

You will get "itch mites" or "warm" seat when you seat down. So I always clean the surface and underneat it, I don't get those disease from seating in a toilet.

Answer 5

Hepatitis. be really careful with toilets in bars, clubs etc.

Answer 6

Just crabs, and only if the toilet seat is still warm.

Answer 7

if it is clean i dont think you really can catah anything

Answer 8

Itch mites (scabies)