MicrobeWorld

Always put the lid down on the toilet. That's the conclusion of a new study examining the amount of Clostridium difficile bacteria that fly into the air and contaminate surfaces when a toilet is flushed without the lid on.

The research was carried out by the Microbiology Department at Leeds General Infirmary in the UK. Using fecal suspensions of C.difficile, the researchers measured airborne suspension of the bacteria in addition to surface contamination by the bacteria after flushing of both lidless and lidded toilets.

Air samples 25 cm above the toilet, which is about the height of the handle, contained C.difficile, with the highest numbers coming from samples taken immediately after flushing.

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