Gender-neutral toilets are dirtiest of all: study

New research is sounding the alarm about the cleanliness of hospital bathrooms.

Several types of drug-resistant bacteria and fungi were discovered on the floors, ceilings, doorknobs and toilet surfaces of bathrooms at three major hospitals in Scotland, according to research presented at a conference this week for clinical microbiology and disease specialists. infectious.

Gender-neutral toilets (including those for disabled people) were more contaminated, while women’s toilets contained fewer germs than men’s toilets.

“The move to convert traditional male and female facilities into unisex facilities in some hospitals raises concerns that people may be exposed to higher risks of contamination,” said study author Stephanie Dancer, a consultant microbiologist at NHS Lanarkshire in the UK.

She added: “For example, hand hygiene surveys show that women are more likely to clean their hands after using the bathroom than men, so we decided to investigate which microbes were present on different surfaces in toilets and how many there were them.”

Dancer and her colleagues collected 480 samples from six types of bathrooms — male staff, female staff, male patient, female patient, disabled, and unisex — at each of the three hospitals.

Hand-touch surfaces (toilet flush, handrail, faucet, door handle); floor; and higher places (door caps, shelves, air vents) were swabbed more than four hours after being cleaned.

The team found bacteria known to cause infections of the bloodstream, urinary tract, chest and other parts of the body, among other pathogens.

Female staff toilets had the least germs of all toilet types.

Drug-resistant bacteria were concentrated in male and female patient toilets, although female toilets fared better.

“Our results seem to confirm what is generally thought in society: women clean because their perception of dirtiness and disgust entices action, while men either don’t notice a dirty environment or don’t care,” Dancer said. “It follows that women are more likely to leave a ‘clean’ bathroom, while men assume someone will clean up after them.

Alarmingly, pathogens like E.coli were just as likely to be found in air ducts, ceilings and door tops as on the floor.

“We think the only logical explanation for this is that flushing the toilet aerosolizes whatever is in the toilet bowl, where the tiny water particles that carry these organisms fly up to the ceiling and contaminate high places,” Dancer said.

Her recommendations for hospital bathrooms include lids on toilets that must be closed before flushing; adding windows so fresh air can circulate; providing more handwashing education; and holding toilets for a sex.

“Based on the findings of this study, I do not believe we should abandon single-sex toilets in favor of unisex toilets, as these toilets had the highest microbial load overall,” Dancer concluded.