Many people avoid sitting on public toilet seats for fear of catching an infection, but a biology expert advises that hovering over the seat is not the solution. According to the expert, sitting on a public toilet seat poses a low risk for most healthy individuals, and the real dangers lie elsewhere.
Public toilets can be a 'microbial soup', with germs found on door handles, faucet knobs, and flush levers—areas touched frequently with unwashed hands. A recent study found that toilet seats often have fewer microbes than these other surfaces. The biggest problem is not sitting but flushing: when a toilet is flushed without a lid, a 'toilet plume' sprays tiny droplets containing bacteria and viruses up to two metres.
Hovering over the toilet tenses the pelvic floor, making it difficult to empty the bladder completely and potentially causing accidental spraying of bodily fluids. Instead of hovering, the expert recommends wiping the seat with an alcohol wipe or using a toilet seat cover for peace of mind.
Good hygiene practices are key: wash hands thoroughly, use paper towels instead of hand dryers, clean the seat if needed, and keep your phone clean. Most infections come from dirty hands, door handles, toilet plumes, and phones used in bathrooms, not from the toilet seat itself.
