\n<\/p>\n
Flushing toilets release particles into the \u201cbreathing zone\u201d of adults and can remain suspended in the air for at least 20 seconds, a new study has found.<\/p>\n
And closing the lid might not be enough to avoid a \u201cplume\u201d of potential pathogens.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, previous research has shown public toilets are an inescapable hotbed of microbes.<\/p>\n
Flinders University researchers reviewed 22 studies of toilet-generated aerosols, publishing the results in the Science of the Total Environment journal.<\/p>\n
They found microbes from the water used for flushing or from contamination of the bowl ended up as aerosols, with more \u201cturbulent\u201d flushing releasing more particles.<\/p>\n
That included bioaerosols \u2013 aerosols that contain biological material and can transmit pathogens including legionella, influenza and norovirus. There are differing reports about whether Covid spreads through toilet aerosols.<\/p>\n
The researchers found higher levels of aerosols in the water and higher levels of turbulence during the flush increased the volume of particles suspended in the air, but the effects of bathroom ventilation and whether the lid was up or down were unclear.<\/p>\n
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/span><\/p>\n Despite that, lead author and PhD student Lira Adiyani said she would still recommend putting the lid down after using the toilet.<\/p>\n \u201cToilet flushing creates turbulence that can release aerosols into the surrounding air,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cSome studies detected these aerosols at adult breathing height, indicating a potential pathway for inhalation exposure.<\/p>\n \u201cThe more microbes present in the toilet, the more bioaerosols may be released. Therefore, larger flush volumes generally produce more aerosols.\u201d<\/p>\n Adiyani said \u201cbased on the available evidence\u201d she would still recommend closing the lid as a precautionary measure, \u201cwhile recognising that it does not completely prevent aerosols from escaping\u201d.<\/p>\n In the report, the researchers wrote that the effects of indoor aerosols had been \u201cunderstudied\u201d despite the risk of infection. This had \u201cimportant implications for risk assessment, building design, and infection control in an era of water security pressures and emerging infectious diseases\u201d, they wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cIndoor aerosols influence air quality and human health as their small size allows them to penetrate deep into the respiratory tract when inhaled, providing a direct exposure pathway.\u201d<\/p>\n Co-author, environmental health professor Harriet Whiley, said people didn\u2019t have to be worried in their own homes, unless someone in the house was immunocompromised.<\/p>\n She said the team was working on \u201cprotecting the most vulnerable through good design\u201d in places such as hospitals and aged care environments.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotionFree newsletter | When needed<\/p>\n Sign up to Breaking News Australia<\/span><\/p>\n Get the most important news as it breaks<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n They are increasingly concerned about \u201copportunistic pathogens\u201d that can be present in water, particularly recycled or rainwater. \u201cThey don\u2019t affect healthy people,\u201d she said. \u201cBut if you\u2019re immunocompromised you can get very sick, and it can be fatal.\u201d<\/p>\n So it\u2019s about getting \u201can effective flush with less volume and less turbulence\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n Dr Lotti Tajouri, an associate professor in molecular genetics at Bond and Murdoch universities wasn\u2019t involved in the research but warned bathroom dangers go well beyond the toilet.<\/p>\n His own research is particularly focused on public toilets and mobile phone use in toilets.<\/p>\n \u201cAs soon as you enter a toilet, consider everything contaminated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The door will have microbes on it, as will the floor \u2013 so you should never put anything on it, he said. Then you might touch the lid, after which you flush with the lid up or down.<\/p>\n If it\u2019s up, you get the \u201cplume\u201d effect, an \u201cexplosion or aerosols \u2026 you are literally sprayed [with]\u201d.<\/p>\n Flushing with the lid down might limit your exposure to the plume, but depending on the cleanliness of the toilet, previous users have left microorganisms on every surface anyway. \u201cThe roof, the walls, the floor,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Then, you touch the toilet door again, before (hopefully) washing your hands. But you will probably touch the taps again, blow microorganisms around with the hairdryer, touch the exit door and then touch your phone.<\/p>\n \u201cStudies show between 50% and 80% of people use mobile phones in the toilet. For younger generations it\u2019s almost 100%,\u201d he said. \u201cThey will contaminate their phones and fingers with fecal microorganisms \u2013 salmonella, campylobacter, all sorts of bacteria and viruses.<\/p>\n \u201cThe less contact you have, the better it is.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Flushing toilets release particles into the \u201cbreathing zone\u201d of adults and can remain suspended in the air for at least 20 seconds, a new study has found. And closing the lid might not be enough to avoid a \u201cplume\u201d of potential pathogens. Meanwhile, previous research has shown public toilets are an inescapable hotbed of microbes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52166,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[346,25285,2717,5661,10172,23719,150,25286,25284,284,415,7134,3982],"class_list":{"0":"post-52165","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-breathable","10":"tag-closing","11":"tag-escape","12":"tag-flushing","13":"tag-lid","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-pathogens","16":"tag-plume","17":"tag-release","18":"tag-stop","19":"tag-toilet","20":"tag-wont"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/52166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}