Shockingly dirty: this everyday thing is dirtier than your toilet seat (bursting with bacteria)
The toilet door handle is one of those places almost no one thinks about. In public restrooms, people grab it after not washing their hands, or only half-washing them. The same thing happens at home: multiple housemates use the same handle, but cleaning almost never happens. As a result, the door handle can be dirtier than the toilet seat.
The flush button or lever of the toilet
You touch the flush button before you wash your hands. Especially in public toilets, this is one of the dirtiest contact points: hundreds of people use it daily, yet it is rarely disinfected. At home, too, that button is often skipped during cleaning.
Shopping cart handles
Shopping cart handles pass through countless hands. Children lean on them, people eat in between, and hands are far from always clean. As a result, these handles are among the dirtiest public surfaces you regularly touch.
Why does the toilet seat still feel so dirty, then?
We instinctively find the toilet seat dirty because we associate it with feces and disease. Other items may look innocent, but in reality, they can carry more bacteria. We react primarily to what is visible, not to what we don’t see.
What can you actually do with this in practice?
You don’t have to be afraid of everything you touch, but smart hygiene helps. Wash your hands regularly, clean your phone every now and then, wipe down the steering wheel, and don’t forget the toilet door handle and flush button both at home and when you’re out.
The toilet seat is rarely the dirtiest place. The real bacteria bombs are actually the surfaces you touch every day and almost never clean. That is precisely why they are so treacherous.
See more on the next page
