{"id":14149,"date":"2026-05-05T11:42:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T11:42:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/05\/why-you-shouldnt-hover-over-a-public-toilet-seat-according-to-a-biology-expert-the-independent\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T11:42:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T11:42:18","slug":"why-you-shouldnt-hover-over-a-public-toilet-seat-according-to-a-biology-expert-the-independent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/05\/why-you-shouldnt-hover-over-a-public-toilet-seat-according-to-a-biology-expert-the-independent\/","title":{"rendered":"Why you shouldn\u2019t hover over a public toilet seat, according to a biology expert – The Independent"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Public toilets can be a microbial soup. Here\u2019s how to avoid germs
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If you\u2019re a parent or have a chronic health condition that needs quick or frequent trips to the bathroom<\/a>, you\u2019ve probably mapped out the half-decent public toilets<\/a> in your area.
But sometimes, you don\u2019t have a choice and have to use a toilet that looks like it hasn\u2019t been cleaned in weeks. Do you brave it and sit on the seat?
What if it looks relatively clean: do you still worry that sitting on the seat could make you sick?
Healthy adults produce more than a litre of urine and more than 100 grams of poo daily. Everybody sheds bacteria<\/a> and viruses in faeces (poo) and urine, and some of this ends up in the toilet.
Some people, especially those with diarrhoea, may shed more harmful microbes (bacteria and viruses) when they use the toilet.
Public toilets can be a \u201cmicrobial soup\u201d, especially when many people use them and cleaning isn\u2019t frequent as it should be.
Many types of microbes have been found on toilet seats and surrounding areas. These include:
There\u2019s also something called biofilm, a mix of germs that builds up under toilet rims and on surfaces.
No. A recent study showed public toilet seats often have fewer microbes than other locations in public toilets, such as door handles, faucet knobs and toilet flush levers. These parts are touched a lot and often with unwashed hands.
Lotti Tajouri is an Associate Professor in Genomics and Molecular Biology; Biomedical Sciences, Bond University
This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.<\/a>
Public toilets in busy places are used hundreds or even thousands of times each week. Some are cleaned often, but others (such as those in parks or bus stops) may only be cleaned once a day or much less, so germs can build up quickly. The red flags that a toilet hasn\u2019t been cleaned are the smell of urine, soiled floors and what is obvious to your eyes.
However, the biggest problem isn\u2019t just sitting: it\u2019s what happens when toilets are flushed. When you flush without a lid, a \u201ctoilet plume\u201d shoots tiny droplets into the air. These droplets can contain bacteria and viruses from the toilet bowl and travel up to 2 metres.
Hand dryers blowing air can also spread germs if people don\u2019t wash properly. As well as drying your hands, you might be blowing germs all over yourself, others and the bathroom.
You can pick up germs from public toilets in several ways:
Here are some easy ways to protect yourself:
For most healthy people, yes \u2013 sitting on a public toilet seat is low-risk. But you can wipe it with an alcohol wipe, or use a toilet seat cover, for peace of mind.
Most infections don\u2019t come from the seat itself, but from dirty hands, door handles, toilet plumes and phones used in bathrooms.
Instead of worrying about sitting, focus on good hygiene. That means washing your hands, opting for paper towel rather than dryers, cleaning the seat if needed, and keeping your phone clean.
And please, don\u2019t hover over the toilet. This tenses the pelvic floor, making it difficult to completely empty the bladder. And you might accidentally spray your bodily fluids.
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Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged inSwipe for next articlePublic toilets can be a microbial soup. Here\u2019s how to avoid germsRemoved from bookmarksI would like to be emailed about offers, events and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-14149","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}