Always put the lid down before flushing the toilet – here’s why

Important question for anyone who is reading this: Do you put the lid down before you flush the toilet?

If the answer is yes – that’s good! Continue with that.

For those who answered no, here is some information that may cause you to change this behavior. This is why you should always put the lid down before flushing.

Yes, your toilet is a real bacterial bomb.

This may not be news to you but there are ways you can help stop this spread of bacteria to the rest of your bathroom.

In a single gram of feces there are 10 million viruses, 1 million bacteria, 1,000 parasite cysts and 100 parasite eggs, reports the hygiene services company Initial.

And that bacteria can survive weeks. The reason is the humid environment in the toilet.

Each time you flush, experts estimate that about one million bacteria comes out via the toilet. And they do not stay in the toilet – unless you close the lid.

The toilet “ejects” millions of bacteria that could end up on your toothbrush.

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Photo: Shutterstock.com

This has been well documented ever since Dr. Charles Gerba published his famous study in 1975. According to the study, the E. coli bacteria can stay in the air after flushing for up to six hours.

The toilet “sneezes out” millions of bacteria – that can end up on your toothbrush

Can you then guess where the bacteria might end up? On the carpet, the bathtub, the towels, the toothbrush, the deodorant on the shelf…

Microbes inside the bowl can splash as far as 20 feet onto you, surfaces and anything on them. This is the ‘sneeze effect’. It is what happens when a flushed toilet gives rise to a cloud of tiny water droplets, which can contain micro-organisms that are associated with urine and faecal matter.

But perhaps the most important call is of course this:

“The most important thing is to wash your hands carefully. For at least twenty seconds you should wash your hands properly. Many people use Hand sanitizer when they go out to protect themselves from colds and vomiting, but that’s not enough. Hand sanitizer can be used as a supplement to the hand wash – but never replace it, “says Björn Hellquist, category manager at the Initial hygiene company in a press release .

Now please share this information so that everyone does the right thing before leaving the bathroom.