# Toliet Seats: can you catch anything from them? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 27, 2000, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toliet-seats-can-you-catch-anything-from-them/10363 "2000-03-27T21:54:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Argetni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Argetni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argetni)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2000, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toliet-seats-can-you-catch-anything-from-them/10363/1 "2000-03-27T21:54:00Z")
I have only used a public toilet twice in my whole life (24 years). When I stay at hotels I clean them with bleach like 5 times before using them…yes I am an OCD sufferer :c) Anyway can you catch anything from a toilet seat? AIDS,herpes,crabs, etc… My sister says no way and has gone as far as to sit on the toilet seat at Yankee Stadium in NYC with no protection. (not that those paper things can do any good anyway) Anyone from NYC can tell you how rancid Yankee Stadium is. so as I sit here at work holding a mean one for the last 6 hours…I would love to hear some answers to this the greatest question of all time. TIA ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2000, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toliet-seats-can-you-catch-anything-from-them/10363/2 "2000-03-28T06:17:00Z")
If you work in a reasonably well kept office building you can probably get away with a moment on the can just fine. I mean, if it looks reasonably clean, it’ll probably suffice. Yes you can pick up both crabs and herpes from a toilet seat, as well as, I believe, syphilis. The herpes and syph will require contact with some infected bodily fluids (look at the damned seat and don’t use it if it’s, uh, _moist_ in spots). Sue is apparently on respite, so you’ll get my vaguely remembered figures (no, I’m not researching anything tonight) - syph can survive aerobic exposure for a few minutes and herpes, I think, can go up to 90 minutes in air and remain viable. The crabs would be a rare deal, but, hell, they can hike - you could concievably pick’em up at a cocktail party where nobody used the can and everybody kept their clothes on. HIV is a nearly impossible to conceive of toilet seat traveler. _Caveat_: I usually research answers before I post them, and I recognize (and hope) that a more firmly informed sort might tumble along. ---
**Author:** ![Argetni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Argetni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argetni)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2000, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toliet-seats-can-you-catch-anything-from-them/10363/3 "2000-03-28T13:36:00Z")
Thanks for the response. I knew it was possible to get things from the seat!! ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2000, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toliet-seats-can-you-catch-anything-from-them/10363/4 "2000-03-28T16:02:00Z")
If you have OCD, you shouldn’t ask this sort of question. You can get things from public door handles too. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2000, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toliet-seats-can-you-catch-anything-from-them/10363/5 "2000-03-28T17:06:00Z")
As usual, our friends at the Straight Dope have anticipated your question. [What diseases can you catch from toilet seats?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtoilet.html) A: You can get cooties, and that’s about it. ---
**Author:** ![Germ\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Germ\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Germ_Boy)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2000, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toliet-seats-can-you-catch-anything-from-them/10363/6 "2000-03-28T20:50:00Z")
Beatle. Where the hell did you come up w/ the crap you’re spouting? While a public toilet seat is not a clean place, the likliehood of contracting a diease from one is minutely small. The only scenario that hold even a shred of possibility is this: you have non-intact skin in the area that touches the seat and the seat has some sort of wet, infectious body substance, and you plunk your open skin on the material and get a sufficient innoculum to gat an infection. PDU (Pretty Damn Unlikely). As always, you would need to wash your hands after using this (or any toilet)since unwashed hands are a much greater mode of transmission than any toilet seat could ever be. Argetni, sorry about the OCD and listren to me, Beatle is way off the target. ---
**Author:** ![Germ\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Germ\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Germ_Boy)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2000, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toliet-seats-can-you-catch-anything-from-them/10363/7 "2000-03-28T20:52:00Z")
Beatle. Where the hell did you come up w/ the crap you’re spouting? While a public toilet seat is not a clean place, the likliehood of contracting a diease from one is minutely small. The only scenario that hold even a shred of possibility is this: you have non-intact skin in the area that touches the seat and the seat has some sort of wet, infectious body substance that’s survived the rather harsh environment of the seat, and you dont look and wipe before you plunk your open skin on the material and get a sufficient innoculum to get an infection. PDU (Pretty Damn Unlikely). As always, you need to wash your hands after using this (or any toilet )since unwashed hands are a much greater mode of transmission than any toilet seat could ever be. Argetni, sorry about the OCD and listen to me, Beatle is way off the target. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toliet-seats-can-you-catch-anything-from-them/10363/8 "2000-03-29T00:44:00Z")
cecil wrote about toilet plumes…too. gross. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toliet-seats-can-you-catch-anything-from-them/10363/9 "2000-03-29T05:12:00Z")
Thanks for your informative post (how appropriate), Germ Boy. Your research and cites are impressive and well received. No caveats needed in your approach - you are the source. Well, after all, I just spoke out the side of my mouth. Who needs research when you know it all, and why even refer to such? If I weren’t going to research something, why would I even mention such? Our own Jillgat on the subject: [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtoilet.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtoilet.html) From: [http://www.herpes.org/topten.shtml](http://www.herpes.org/topten.shtml) > [@](#): > > This chance of contracting a herpes infection when living in a non-sexual relationship with a person with genital herpes (or oral herpes for that matter) is vanishingly small. The herpes virus has to actually enter the body of another person through a broken area of the skin. The virus will not enter through intact skin. Did I somewhere forget to mention we were talking about the _conceivable_? Not the likely, which I believe I addressed in my opening sentence. The point is, if you’re consumed with the subject, you _can_, in fact, contract an STD from a toilet seat. Is that an area of contention, GB? Are you asserting that the herpes virus cannot remain viable for the 90 minutes I recalled? Fine; I noted above that the assertion was made without reference. Maybe not - I believe I recall a caveat; what are yours? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toliet-seats-can-you-catch-anything-from-them/10363/10 "2000-03-29T05:18:00Z")
Argetni, you’ve only used the public toilets twice in 24 years? What the hell do you do, hold it in until it spouts out of your mouth. ---
**Author:** ![EvilGhandi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@EvilGhandi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilGhandi)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toliet-seats-can-you-catch-anything-from-them/10363/11 "2000-03-29T11:36:00Z")
Peyote, Perhaps you missed the part where Argetni mentioned OCD. This is a very real disease. Sufferers will frequently do irrational things they know damn well are irrational. Your little joke is in poor taste. ---
**Author:** ![Mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toliet-seats-can-you-catch-anything-from-them/10363/12 "2000-03-29T15:34:00Z")
The one thing you definitely could catch from a toilet seat is pubic lice (crabs). They typically require a host to survive but can survive 24-48 hours away from one. ---
**Author:** ![Germ\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Germ\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Germ_Boy)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toliet-seats-can-you-catch-anything-from-them/10363/13 "2000-03-29T15:53:00Z")
Beatle, my humble hat is in my hand as I re-read yesterday’s hastily composed and perhaps belligerent post. A bad day of mine was passed on. I won’t deny that a disease could be transmitted via a fomite such as a toilet seat; the likliehood is extraordinarily small. On that we both agree. The chance (albeit small) to contract a disease exists but the method to minimize that chance even further is very simple, cheap, and wonderfully effective: handwashing with soap and water. Currently in my hospital we are combating a cluster of C.difficile diarrhea. We actively work to decrease its transmission through a rigorous program that includes cleaning of toilets facilities used by affected patients with bleach. Are we worried that the disease can be transmitted by a contaminated seat? Yes. Can a patient get this bug SIMPLY BY SITTING ON THE SEAT? No. The final mode of transmission is the fecal-oral route (read: some thing gets from your behind to your mouth). The key to infection control is breaking the chain of infection in as many ways as possible. This ramble leads back to these facts: Germs can live on inanimate objects, we can pick them up and they can make us sick, we can take easy precautions to avoid that scenario. I think, Beatle, that you and I are singing the same song in slightly different key. Another factor is that the original poster suffers from OCD and perhaps no amount of cogent argument will change the chemical imbalance that rules their mind. GB For your reference :(Benenson, Abram S., editor, “Control of Communicable Diseases Manual, 16th edition”, American Public Health Association, 1995.) An excellent resource and overall guide to understanding communicable diseases and their transmission. ---
**Author:** ![Germ\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Germ\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Germ_Boy)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toliet-seats-can-you-catch-anything-from-them/10363/14 "2000-03-29T15:54:00Z")
Damn smilies… ---
**Author:** ![Argetni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Argetni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argetni)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2000, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toliet-seats-can-you-catch-anything-from-them/10363/15 "2000-03-29T20:02:00Z")
yes peyote, only twice last time was a dire emergency, bad egg-roll :c) I did clean the toilet with lysol first and used like 15 ass-gaskets. I do use public bathrooms just to pee all the time (though I do hate too and try not too)especially after reading about toilet plumes…YUCK!! Thanks for all the answers to my question. I think I will continue to run home at lunch when I really got to go. only live 6 miles from the office. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2000, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toliet-seats-can-you-catch-anything-from-them/10363/16 "2000-03-30T16:09:00Z")
Hover. Learn to Hover over the seat. It’s sooooo easy. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2000, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toliet-seats-can-you-catch-anything-from-them/10363/17 "2000-04-09T19:21:00Z")
Not only can you catch diseases (like polio, before it was virtually wiped out in this country) from public toilets, you can catch immunity too. The reason the oral Sabin vaccine is used in preference to the injected Salk polio vaccine is that children not directly immunized can ‘catch’ immunization from the toilet seats. Immunized children leave dead viruses in the toilets, the unimmunized children who use the toilet next pick up the dead virus and develop immunity to it. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toliet-seats-can-you-catch-anything-from-them/10363/18 "2000-04-14T03:32:00Z")
While it is technically possible to get diseases from toilet seats, there are many many other routes that should be of more concern. To protect yourself, just listen to what your mom said: wash your hands and keep things clean. Basic hygeine and sanitation dramatically reduce the spread of illness. This message brought to you by a bored man at work who became much more paranoid about all this after taking a Virology class. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toliet-seats-can-you-catch-anything-from-them/10363/19 "2000-04-14T03:34:00Z")
One other thing I forgot that may reassure some people. I once had a Microbiology lab where we tested various surfaces to see what grew. Invariably, toilet seats were among the cleanest, because they were cleaned every night. We usually couldn’t even get a single bacterium to grow. Not one. Anywhere with a decent janitorial staff would have about the same story. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toliet-seats-can-you-catch-anything-from-them/10363/20 "2000-04-14T15:36:00Z")
Yup. Bathroom doorknobs or any public doorknobs are 1000 times more likely to have catchable viruses on them than toilet seats. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toliet-seats-can-you-catch-anything-from-them/10363.md?page=2)