closing toilet lid before flushing

[garlicandsapphires]

Big signs up in work loos to close the lid before flushing.
Does everybody do this?
Surely you need to see inside to make sure everything is gone, in which case you'd open, close to flush, open again to check, close again for the next person.
Do people really do this? on public loos? AIBU to not do it?

Just use your toilet brush to swat the poo & wee particles back down

Depends if I’m in the mood.

I have a bee in my bonnet about the local council and leisure centre patting themselves on the back about their gender-neutral facilities and improved COVID hygiene, whilst not putting a lid on any of their toilets. Gross.

I hadn't realised there were so many people so terrified of normal human things until I joined this forum.
Our sanitation systems are better than they've ever been yet some people are
more anxious about germs than ever.
Good basic hygiene is good enough! Washing hands, caution around raw meat, etc etc and a healthy dose of grot is perfectly fine.

I would never think about the so called germs from a toilet bowl, all flying about in the air when a toilet is flushed. The very thought of this makes me laugh.

I watched a few news pieces on this and germs do fly everywhere when you flush with the lid open. I hadn't thought about it before and definitely didn't do it every time, but I do now since watching!

Even with the lid down toilets are not air tight, so maybe slightly less comes out but I reckon it makes little difference to the overall end result.

Urine is not sterile.

www.sciencenews.org/blog/gory-details/urine-not-sterile-and-neither-rest-you

www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/turns-out-urine-isnt-actually-sterile-180954809/

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4659483/

@1forAll74

I would never think about the so called germs from a toilet bowl, all flying about in the air when a toilet is flushed. The very thought of this makes me laugh.

Think of the toothbrushes! 😂

Saying that though, I mean toothbrushes are grim anyway if you think about it, in a wet warm mouth then just sat in a wet warm brush breeding. Makes me 🤢 if I think about it too much.

The germs breeding I mean, not the tooth brushes 😄

Germs in the Loo

Put Down that Lid
A new UK study, published in the Journal of Hospital Infection,1 reveals that an open toilet lid during flushing increases the risk of contamination of other areas of the bathroom. The study specifically looked at Clostridium difficile (C. difficile), a potentially life-threatening bacterial infection often spread in hospitals. The researchers simulated bacteria-infected feces to measure how far it spread into the air (the aerosolization) after flushing. Using two different types of toilets commonly used in hospitals, the researchers found C. difficile in the air 25 cm above the toilet seat and determined that surface contamination with this bacteria occurred within 90 minutes after flushing, meaning that droplets are suspended in the air for some time before settling on a surface. The recent study is particularly concerning because the C. difficile bacterium has a high survival rate and it is not uncommon for sufferers to experience explosive diarrhea, making possible bathroom contamination more likely.

Previous research has demonstrated how flushing domestic and hospital toilets without a lid can also contaminate the surrounding surfaces with other types of bacteria, such as E. coli. The researchers of the current study recommend thorough hand-washing after toilet use, frequent bathroom cleaning, and the implementation of newer toilets that do not have an aerosol effect when flushed, especially in healthcare facilities.

badgut.org/information-centre/a-z-digestive-topics/germs-in-the-loo/

Yes, I've done this since I started chemo 6 years ago. I was told to close the lid and flush twice.

I can't say I ever give this any thought at all, and I don't intend to start. Somehow I have lasted until the age of 55 without issue.

Few of the public toilets around here have lids anyway. Just flush them. The chances are that you will survive the event.

@SunsetStyle

I've survived a similar length of time *@daimbarsatemydogsbone* 🤣

I've managed nearly 70 years.

Mostly with the lid down.

[quote ImustLearn2Cook]Germs in the Loo

Put Down that Lid
A new UK study, published in the Journal of Hospital Infection,1 reveals that an open toilet lid during flushing increases the risk of contamination of other areas of the bathroom. The study specifically looked at Clostridium difficile (C. difficile), a potentially life-threatening bacterial infection often spread in hospitals. The researchers simulated bacteria-infected feces to measure how far it spread into the air (the aerosolization) after flushing. Using two different types of toilets commonly used in hospitals, the researchers found C. difficile in the air 25 cm above the toilet seat and determined that surface contamination with this bacteria occurred within 90 minutes after flushing, meaning that droplets are suspended in the air for some time before settling on a surface. The recent study is particularly concerning because the C. difficile bacterium has a high survival rate and it is not uncommon for sufferers to experience explosive diarrhea, making possible bathroom contamination more likely.

Previous research has demonstrated how flushing domestic and hospital toilets without a lid can also contaminate the surrounding surfaces with other types of bacteria, such as E. coli. The researchers of the current study recommend thorough hand-washing after toilet use, frequent bathroom cleaning, and the implementation of newer toilets that do not have an aerosol effect when flushed, especially in healthcare facilities.

badgut.org/information-centre/a-z-digestive-topics/germs-in-the-loo/[/quote]
I've often wondered why most hospital toilets don't have lids.

@garlicandsapphires

ARE you basically spraying wee and shit in the air though?

Yes. The mist from the flush sprays up to 6ft taking urine and fecal particles with it. It's basically a toilet equivalent of a sneeze with no tissue!

I can understand the particles going straight up, but do they really spray in all directions? And surely there should be some moisture on the inside of the lid if you flush with it down, but it is always bone dry.

I always close the lid. I get very pissed off when houseguests dont do it
If its a public loo i sometimes use tissue to handle the lid but im just going to wash my hands anyway so dont tend to be too precious about it.

@garlicandsapphires

ARE you basically spraying wee and shit in the air though?

Yes. I watched a thing on the box once where they did a study in a party environment. The toilet flushes and the spray with fecal matter hits the ceiling and walls/room contents. The more people who go and then not washing their hands then more spray and eventually travelling throughout the house.

If you keep your tooth brush in the same room as the toilet and don't close the lid when flushing, then it will be covered in fecal matter particles.

It just depends on how much you care about such things though.

I don't do it and have no intention of starting now. I'm a very fit and healthy person, never seem to get V & D and I've been behaving in this disgusting way for over 60 years now. Just another bit of being obsessed with labelling others as filthy in their habits.

Well all do this here. Even my 5 year old. You can have a peek after the flush is done.

Right now I wish I could use and flush the toilet with lid up or down, but feel too embarrassed to as the neighbour has people working on their outside walls almost right outside the toilet. The carport just outside seems to magnify every little noise as well.

Meh, I don't usually close it. We're never ill.

Much more worried about having to use unisex toilets covered in man piss tbh

Never shut the lid.
I guess everything in our only bathroom is thick with poo particles and unimaginable germs.

@EnidFrighten

Meh, I don't usually close it. We're never ill.

Much more worried about having to use unisex toilets covered in man piss tbh

We've just got those at work. There's going to be mutiny among the women soon over the pee on the floor, nobody is happy with those toilets.