Can we get any infectious disease from a toilet seat ?

Question

I want to put this question to rest once and for all. I know we can get crabs but that is not a disease.

Answer 1

I can only tell you what I was taught in nursing school, which is that although it is theoretically possible, it is not very probable. Viruses and bacteria don't live in the open air for very long, they require moisture and heat. Most people won't sit on an obviously wet or nasty seat, so that pretty much precludes that possibility. If you saw blood, you would also turn right around and leave. The major means of transmitting bacteria and viruses is through water droplet (sneezing, coughing, spit), and blood/body fluid. You could transfer things from your hands to your mouth, if you did not wash them after using the bathroom, but you would not catch much from your bottom contacting the seat. You would ingest the stuff, through your mouth. Even if the seat were really soggy, urine is sterile for the first nearly 24 hours after it leaves the body. People used to brush their teeth with urine, in the middle ages, use it to comb their hair, and physicians used to actually taste it to detect sugar. So unsavory as the thought is, it isn't deadly stuff, just nasty. I think it's safe to say, you would avoid a poo covered seat, so that would eliminate that as a contaminate just because of esthetic objections.
In order to catch critters like crabs, you have to sit practically in the other persons lap on the toilet. Crabs and other like creatures do not give up a host unless another one is very close at hand. They like to go directly from warm body to warm body. You would stand a bigger chance from catching them in a dressing room while trying on clothing at the store, than in the restroom.
I suppose you could catch a cold or the flu from the handle, but not the seat. Those are also transmitted via droplet, but through the mouth and nose, not the rear end.
In short, no you can't catch things from the toilet seat. There are lots of other places in the bathroom more dangerous and more likely to be the source of an infection. It's still a good idea to avoid nasty bathrooms, because if the toilet is nasty the rest of the place isn't going to be any cleaner. Folks that left a nasty toilet seat touched other stuff besides the seat, and that's where you need to be concerned. Best way to protect yourself is to wash your hands afterwards with soap, use a paper towel to dry them, and don't touch the water taps barehanded. Use a towel to turn them on and off. Keep your hands away from your face and mouth, too. Use a waterless hand sanitizer if you have to. And if heaven forbid, you just have to use a questionable facility, try to go standing staddle and try not to touch anything you don't have to. And wash your hands really well afterwards.

Answer 2

It is usually said that this is an old wives' tale.

However, a while back I read an article, maybe it was Time?, entitled "Your mother was right," and this article discussed the work of an expert who went round to all kinds of toilets looking for germs.

He found plenty. Toilets, not just but especially public toilets, are chock full of germs and viruses, and so is the air around them, especially when you flush them.

So whereas it is not usual to get some kind of disease from them, it sure is possible.

But not crabs. Crabs are an animal, a type of louse, they don't like surfaces like toilet seats, they like hair and skin and clothing and won't leave it. They don't fall off.

Answer 3

Crabs dont live on toilet seats. Also to get an infection from a toilet seat you would most likely have to have some break in the skin. I suppose a skin infection is possible but very very unlikely. sexually transmitted disease require sexual contact, either oral , vaginal or anal, an exchange of fluids of some sort. Theoreticaly Hepatitis A is possible as its a fecal to oral mode of transmision but that is why we all wash our hands right? when is the last time you heard of a toilet seat outbreak of anything?

Answer 4

there's not much you can catch from a toilet seat as far as infection goes, but you can get crabs, which isn't fun either

Answer 5

Not sure, but here is an intresting fact, did you know that your steering wheel in your car contains more nasty germs then your toliet set, and Also if you bit your nails its equivalent to licking your toilet set.

Answer 6

Yes...use a seat cover in public restrooms/squat down.

Answer 7

If we can get a cold from someone who just sneezed and you touch the place where he just was then why can't we That's my question to you?

Answer 8

you could also get a fungus

Answer 9

yeas you can catch herpes