bathroom

Toilet Seat Covers: Do They Work?

My husband runs every day with a jogging group. Often in the course of their runs they have a need for a Porta Potty. One day the guys in the group were laughing about how one of the female joggers used the outdoor facility and they could hear her putting down the paper toilet seat cover. They thought that was hilarious. That made me wonder, do paper toilet seat covers actually protect us from anything?

When I looked at the research that’s out there, I found that there is nothing to protect against: Toilet seats are relatively safe. When it comes to public bathrooms, the places that have the most bacteria include the floor, the faucet handles and the toilet handle. Interestingly, the hot air hand dryers use bathroom air to blow your hands dry. The air contains bathroom bacteria.

If you are worried and wondering how to stay relatively germ-free in a public restroom, do this: Wash your hands well, use a paper towel to turn off the faucet, and use paper towels to dry your hands. Keep your purse off the floor. You can use your foot to flush the toilet.

Most people are worried about catching a sexually transmitted infection (STI) from the toilet seat. However, the organisms that cause these infections do not live long enough to cause a problem. The only way to get an STI on a toilet seat is to have sex with an infected person on it. So don’t do it!

Now back to my original question, do we really need those paper toilet seat covers? Regardless of the fact that they are unnecessary, if those little covers offer peace of mind, why not use them—along with the real germ-fighting advice above!

Want to know all the other hotspots where germs live? Take our germs quiz.

Do you use paper towels to turn off the faucet or open the door in public restrooms? Let us know in the comment box below.

Join the largest health conversation in 140 characters or less! Tweet what you want to talk about to @SharecareNow and let’s start chatting!

File under: In the News

Contributor

Robin Miller

Dr. Robin Miller, Sharecare Editorial Advisory Board Member, currently practices Internal Medicine and serves as the medical director of Triune Integrative Medicine, a highly innovative Integrative Medicine clinic in Medford, Oregon. She has produced the award-winning health series, “Is there a Doctor in the House,” which is shown nationwide on the GE-sponsored Patient Channel, and is the author of "Kids Ask the Doctor" and the co-author of “The Smart Woman's Guide to Midlife and Beyond: A No-Nonsense Approach to Staying Healthy after 50".

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Comments

  1. Diane

    This info is good to know. Many times I use toilet paper or seat covers because there is urine on the toilet seat – yuck!

    September 5th, 2012, 9:32 am
  2. aileen miller

    so many of the bathrooms only have hand blow dryers because they are conserving paper. Are we better off going out with wet hands?

    September 5th, 2012, 4:08 pm
  3. jamet cohen

    what about hair dryers and bacteria??????

    September 12th, 2012, 9:11 pm
  4. Sal

    I love the toilet seat covers so much, I had a dispenser installed at home! At public restrooms, I wear empty tissue boxes on my feet because of bacteria.

    October 1st, 2012, 7:09 pm
  5. Cat

    In the restrooms at work, I always take some TP and wipe the seat down first. If I see any spots that don’t come off with the wiping down, then I’ll use a seat cover. If it just looks too nasty for even the wiping down, I use another stall. I mainly use the seat covers so I don’t get other people’s sweat, or who knows what else on me. Many people think men’s rooms are so gross, but I can definitely vouch that women can be just as disgusting. And I always use my foot to flush the toilet, unless it’s got a tank (like home toilets) and not a bat handle, or if it’s an auto sensor flusher. We also have sensor faucets, and air dryers. Sometimes someone will bring in a roll of paper towels, but if there are none, I may start leaving with wet hands.

    October 8th, 2012, 7:35 pm
  6. Jo

    Yes, I always use paper towels to turn off faucet, dry hands, and to open the exterior door.

    October 9th, 2012, 10:51 am
  7. Joann

    When i go to public restrooms i open the door and flush the toilet with toilet paper is this safe. what can i do to protect my feet in the public restrooms on the floor. All so some public restrooms dont have any paper towels only hand dryers what do i do then.

    October 10th, 2012, 9:05 pm
  8. Cat

    I work in healthcare and this is how we are taught professionally.
    I always carry alcohol wipes and Clorox wipes in my purse to “tidy up” a facility before I use it.

    October 11th, 2012, 5:36 pm

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