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Covid-19 has seen many projects fall down the toilet, but a study by Australia shows that public toilets pose little risk of catching the virus.
Led by Australian National University professor Sotiris Vardoulakis, the researchers found no evidence of airborne transmission of pathogens such as Covid-19 in public toilets.
The peer-reviewed study, published in Science of Total Environment, analyzed 38 studies from 13 countries published from 2000 to 2020 to determine the risk of viral and bacterial transmission from public toilets.
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He looked at several possible modes of transmission in public toilets, including inhalation, surface contact, and the fecal-oral route.
There was some risk of aerosolization from flushing toilets and using hand drying systems in public toilets, the authors said, but the risks of transmission were considered low both. that good hand and bathroom hygiene was maintained.
“We realize that people are worried about using public toilets during the pandemic,” Vardoulakis said in a statement Thursday.
“But if you minimize your time in the bathroom, wash and dry your hands properly, and don’t use your cell phone, eat or drink, then bathroom usage should be kept low. risk.”
The wastewater surveillance tests have been used by health authorities across Australia as a guide to determine where the virus can travel undetected.
The peer-reviewed study notes that Covid patients with or without symptoms appear to excrete the virus through their stool, making it a potential source of transmission.
While aerosol particles are now widely regarded as a known route of Covid-19 transmission, Vardoulakis said there was no evidence that this happens in public toilets in studies published during the first year of the pandemic.
“There are a number of reasons why the risk is low in public toilets – people don’t spend a lot of time in the toilet and don’t interact with others,” he said.
“It’s important to note that the aerosols you can inhale when flushing the toilet come from your own human waste. The risk of cross contamination is not very high.
Environmental samples from toilets in Covid hospital wards in Singapore, China, England and Italy have detected the presence of Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease.
However, Vardoulakis stressed that contamination is different from transmission.
The study makes 25 recommendations to reduce the risk of contamination and transmission of public toilets, including electric doors or doorless entrances, closing the toilet lid before flushing and flushing buttons. non-tactile.
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