Public toilet seats: have no fear

This is a rather indelicate subject. It’s about one of my pet peeves: coming into a bathroom stall and seeing that the toilet seat is spattered with pee. You see, I choose to sit on an uncovered seat. But before doing so, I must take some toilet paper and wipe the seat until it’s dry. Studies vary, but one study found that 85 percent of women said they crouched over public toilets, and 12 percent papered the seat. Only 2 percent sat all the way down. I’m one of the minority who is not afraid of toilet seats.

There’s no reason to be afraid. As Dr. William Schaffner, professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center says, “toilet seats are not a vehicle for the transmission of any infections agents—you won’t catch anything.” There’s no medical evidence that anyone has ever picked up a venereal disease from a toilet seat. Any bacteria found on toilet seats are common skin microbes that we all carry around on our bodies. In fact, when studying bacteria on various surfaces in the bathroom, the toilet seat proved to be the cleanest surface.

Some experts define a sanitary surface as something clean enough to eat off of, with no more than 1,000 bacteria per square inch. On a 20/20 news program, Dr. Schaffner measured the bacteria on various surfaces, including those in a nearby bathroom as well as in the newsroom. They found that the toilet seat passed the sanitary test, but the anchorman’s desk did not.

Dr. Chuck Gerba, professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona measures bacteria in a variety of household objects. His studies found that the average toilet seat contains about 50 bacteria per square inch. “It’s one of the cleanest things you’ll run across in terms of micro-organisms. It’s our gold standard—there are not many things cleaner than a toilet seat when it comes to germs.” A sponge, for example, has about 10 million bacteria per square inch.

You can’t avoid bacteria—they’re part of you and part of our environment. I don’t worry about sponges or toilet seats. I wish other women didn’t.

Next week: Stress and illness

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