Contrary to previous study findings, closing the toilet lid before flushing doesn’t stop aerosolized viruses from contaminating bathroom surfaces, scientists from the University of Arizona and Reckitt Benckiser LLC, the company that makes the disinfectant used in the study, report in the American Journal of Infection Control.
The researchers added a bacteriophage (virus that targets and kills bacteria) to household and public toilet bowls as a proxy for human intestinal viruses. After they flushed the toilets (with the lid open or closed in case of the household toilets), they measured viral contamination of the toilet and bathroom floor and walls.
“Research has demonstrated that people with COVID-19, even those who are asymptomatic, excrete severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in fecal matter and other excretions,” the researchers wrote. “Viruses contaminating urine and feces can be aerosolized in building restrooms during toilet flushing.”
The resulting toilet aerosol plumes, they said, can land on surfaces more than 5 feet away.
Funded and authored by the company wanting to sell you their disinfectant.
Conflicts of interest: Drs. Julie McKinney and M. Khalid Ijaz are engaged in R&D at Reckitt Benckiser LLC. The other authors declare no competing interests.
Funding/support: This study was funded by a grant to the University of Arizona from Reckitt Benckiser.
Ironically, stating the full truth would help them more. Mythbusters proved that even several rooms away will have fecal particles
Mythbusters proved that there are fecal bacteria everywhere and as such you can never reasonably completely avoid it. However, they didn’t prove whether there are other bacteria or viruses that are kept contained with a closed lid compared to with an open lid, or if the viral/bacterial load is lower with a closed lid.
The only way to stop this would be to change toilet lids to be an air tight seal (with some kind of 1 way valve to allow air in for flushing) or control the air flow, in a way that’s strong enough to capture ejected particles, and suck it through a filter.
The second option would have the added benefit of capturing particulates when people are actually farting and shitting, as well as removing the smell.
They established this in one of the most disturbing MythBusters episodes years ago.
edit: actually, I’ve realized in that episode that the toilet didn’t have a lid, so while the experiment wasn’t the same, you can probably draw the same conclusion when control toothbrushes outside the bathroom were also affected
Can keyword to search? Interested to know more
Still looking for the episode, but here’s a short writeup
https://tvovermind.com/far-worst-thing-ever-discovered-mythbusters/
edit: looks like it was episode 12
https://mythresults.com/episode12
https://mythbusters.fandom.com/wiki/Break_Step_Bridge_(Episode)
edit2: This is it from their Facebook page
https://m.facebook.com/MythBusters/videos/surprise-toothbrush/10152461851823224/
Tdlr, don’t store toothbrush in washrooms.
IIRC the control in the kitchen also showed contamination. I wasn’t convinced by their methodology with this one. They demonstrated that flushing DID create aerosols, but they did not isolate that effect. “Poop is everywhere” isn’t really an answer to the question.
Or near the washroom. The two control brushes they had in a different room also had fecal matter on them.
I mean, fair; the lid isn’t a total seal so I expect it to be able to kinda come out around the edges of the lid; but wouldn’t it still keep all the stuff at least in a smaller area? It’s not blasting straight up in the air with the lid blocking it, is it? The floors and baseboards get cleaned pretty frequently; the ceiling not so much.
Just stop licking the bathroom ceiling.
You ever watch smoke dissipate when you blow out a candle??
That is a great analogy. We always assume gravity is the same for everyone, but when you’re as tiny as an aerosol droplet, air currents are a lot more relevant.
Is kind of like holding a pot lid out to block a grenade. There’s some protection but practically zero.
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My main concern is always my toothbrush. But it’s on a counter above the toilet. So wouldn’t keeping the lid down help significantly, in both the direction and distance of whatever is stirred up?
Turbulence might be enough bring it up and everywhere regardless. The movement of your own body would cycle air every which way right after you flush, plus many bathrooms have ventilation fans near the ceiling, drawing air upward.
I’ve seen bugs bunny, that totally works
Still gonna do it.
Every single thing in the world is covered in a thin film of bacteria
Not only that but the bacteria are constantly pooping on you
Also there are mites having sex on your face and burrowing into your hair follicles to hang out down there with their back ends sticking up into the air
Airtists recreateion
Thats is creepy af.
So romantic
half of yall be eating ass but also worried about a little shit mist. you definitely don’t want to know about farts.
You need to buy disinfectant, says company that sells disinfectant
For all the people wondering if it’s better to close the lid or leave it open. The point of the study and numerous others before is that it doesn’t matter lmfao.
If you feel better with the lid closed and want to look down on others who keep it up, no amount of studies are going to change your mind. That’s why you’re in here asking for more while choosing to ignore this one, and the last ones, and mythbusters…
And because there’s some weird overlap between ya’ll… Yes, squirt is pee. There’s no magical 4th dimension bladder ovaries that allows you to piss all over someone and call it female jizz.
Mythbusters busted this myth long before studies. Turns out that air pressure is enough to push the particles flying from the bowl despite the lid, because the toilet lid isn’t a good air tight seal, and the air is pushed out due to water volume increase.
So basically closing the lid doesn’t help.
Didn’t Mythbusters just prove that the particular kind(s) of fecal bacteria they checked for are present everywhere at all times?
See not being a pessimistic asshole, everything is shit.
It helps me not drop my toothbrush in there in our tiny bathroom though.
Ok it doesn’t 100 percent stop it or it doesn’t help at all? Because I always assumed something as small as a poop bacteria could get through the little cracks but I also assumed having it go through the cracks was better than having it go through the massive entire open bowl where it seemed like more would spray out. Did they comparison test the amount of bacteria on surfaces or just prove that some gets through?
Edit: obviously I could be wrong but it also seems like having the lid down would direct more bacteria to lower surfaces whereas having it open would give an easier path to higher surfaces where we tend to keep things like toothbrushes.
Tldr; Control toothbrush contained 98% bacteria or close enough. Make of that what you will. Basically, close your tootbrush in the cupboard.
Ick. Thanks for the info.
So, uh… design better lids?
What previous studies? Wasn’t there a mythbuster episode where they tested that like 15 years ago?
So the solution is to never flush.
At some point, you have to flush, at which point science now suggests you also have to move into a new home.
Just pour epoxy over it all, toss the toilet and install a new one
Maybe just move into a new bathroom. Cheaper, right?
Just install an airlock. Probably still cheaper.
Surely it’s still somewhat better than leaving the lid up though? Obviously not perfect but still.
There was a different study, last time (several years ago), that showed that when you pull the seat up, it acts like a vacuum and sucks the anerosol out into the room.
CIDRAP - Closing It Doesn’t Reduce Airborne Poop
Hmm time to replace all toilets with friggin’ autoclaves.
