Public restroom floors - including the one in your dormitory - are filthy, too. to multiply, grow and seep into the water supply and ultimately onto, or into, your body. Researchers speculate that parts of the electronic faucet might trap the bacteria, allowing Legionella spp. A Johns Hopkins University study found that half of the samples obtained from electronic-eye faucets were contaminated with Legionella spp., which causes Legionnaires' disease. Even electronic, non-touch faucets are cesspools. Thousands of different types of germs rest on the handles of sink faucets, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (commonly known as MRSA). If you think public showers are a no-man's-land of pathogens, you don't want to know what's going on at the sink, specifically the faucets. Other fungi can cause athlete's foot, skin infections, nail infections, and jock itch. Mold is extremely prevalent and problematic for those suffering from allergies, asthma or other breathing ailments. Forty-three percent of the shower floors that researchers studied contained fecal bacteria, while 20 percent were contaminated with Streptococcus,a spherical bacterium that can cause infections such as strep throat and scarlet fever. The shower, with its moist, humid environment, had more than 40 times the number of bacteria than the toilet seat. A study conducted by the Simmons College Center for Hygiene and Health in Home and Community found that shower floors were the most contaminated surface in college dormitories. Still, dorm toilets are relatively clean compared to the dorm shower. The take-home: Stash that toothbrush in the medicine cabinet. ![]() ![]() He found that droplets of water rocket out of the bowl with tremendous speed, each laden with invisible bacteria and viruses. Once he used a strobe light to shoot a time-lapsed photograph of what happens when a person flushes the toilet. He has spent part of his professional life studying how droplets from the toilet bowl migrate to other areas of the bathroom. The microbiologist from the University of Arizona is the world's foremost authority on organisms that live in and near the commode. Charles Gerba has spent a lot of time in the bathroom. Image courtesy Janice Carr Public Health Image Library (PHIL)/CDCĭr.
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