Sinks, towels, showers, floors even your door handle have been shown to be home to hundreds of millions of bacteria and this is multiplied when bathrooms are not cleaned regularly. 2. Another cause is one that you need to be especially aware of, keeping your toothbrush too close to the toilet.
“Bacteria, yeast and mold love a moist area, like the shower curtain,” says Dr. Gudipati. “Whether it's plastic or cloth, it can hold onto bacteria and, in damper climates, even grow mold. The shower curtain harbors more bacteria than anything else in your bathroom, with up to 16 million colony-forming units.”
And, despite what people might think, the toilet seat is not the worst offender, according to the new research. The shower tray emerged as the dirtiest part of the bathroom, closely followed by the basin, and the taps.
Bacteria can be found in soil, water, plants, animals, radioactive waste, deep in the earth's crust, arctic ice and glaciers, and hot springs. There are bacteria in the stratosphere, between 6 and 30 miles up in the atmosphere, and in the ocean depths, down to 32,800 feet or 10,000 meters deep.
Water and Wet Surfaces
Wet surfaces are a good place for bacteria to grow. Tap water is safe to drink, but is not sterile.
Disease can occur at any body site and can be caused by the organism itself or by the body's response to its presence. Bacteria are transmitted to humans through air, water, food, or living vectors. The principal modes of transmission of bacterial infection are contact, airborne, droplet, vectors, and vehicular.
"It's one of the cleanest things you'll run across in terms of micro-organisms," he says. "It's our gold standard - there are not many things cleaner than a toilet seat when it comes to germs."
What is the cleanest part of your house? Surprisingly, the cleanest part of your house is likely to be your toilet pan. While the bathroom is wrongly thought to be a hothouse of bacteria in your home, the toilet has been proven time and time again to carry fewer bacteria than certain areas of your kitchen.
Sponges and rags, countertops and cutting boards are common kitchen surfaces where bacteria can thrive. Sponges and rags are the most overlooked environment for germ infestation. The cellulose sponge is ideal for bacterial growth. Here bacteria have a surface to cling to, a supply of nutrients and moisture.
"There's more fecal bacteria in your kitchen sink than there is in a toilet after you flush it," said microbiologist Charles Gerba, known as "Dr. Germ."
The dirtiest spot in your bathroom isn't the toilet. An experiment done by SafeHome showed that the top two places with the most germs are your shower curtain and floor. The results showed that toilets, which most people perceive to be the dirtiest part of a bathroom, are actually 60 times less dirty than your shower.
A home's kitchen sink carries more bacteria than both the toilet and the garbage can, Gerba's research found.
Scrub showers, bathtubs, and countertops.
"Do it at least twice a week with a disinfectant that contains bleach," Horowitz says.
Clean as You Go
One key secret to keeping a clean home is to clean as you go instead of waiting until your home looks like a bomb went off! Yes, this sort of means you're constantly cleaning, but when it just becomes a habit you won't look at it as cleaning.
The most common answer to this question is once a week. Whether you do all your chores on Saturday or complete one a day throughout the week, most people sweep and mop, vacuum, clean the bathroom, and dust the furniture on a seven-day rotation.
“The most important areas to clean frequently are kitchens and bathrooms, where germs tend to accumulate due to the frequent use, but also because of what we tend to do in these areas, such as prepare and eat food, brush our teeth, wash our faces, and more.”
While it was also found to make the droplets larger and more concentrated with bacteria, the broad consensus among scientists is that it's more hygienic to flush with the lid down.
Pathogens are not transmitted via skin contact
Even if many public restrooms do not look inviting - sitting on toilet seats cannot transfer germs if the skin is intact. Admittedly, sanitary conditions are not inviting in many public restrooms.
According to studies, the middle stalls are to be avoided if possible. Apparently, people tend to choose the middle one because of the “centrality preference.” On the other hand, the first stall, which is the least used, is likely to be the cleanest.
When users spray the aerosol product in a closed, unoccupied room in accordance with the label use-directions, Lysol Air Sanitizer can kill bacteria and viruses in the air and suppress odor in residential and commercial settings, such as homes, schools, hotels, daycare centers, and office buildings.