Bioaerosols generated from toilet flushing in rooms of patients with C-Diff | Hacker News Reader

Bioaerosols generated from toilet flushing in rooms of patients with C-Diff

cambridge.org

26 pointsshawndumas17 comments

This is something I often think about when using those new hand dryers in public toilets that blast high-velocity air into a confined space where some of the water removed from people's hands collects.

It seems like a great way to aerosolise whatever was on the hands of all the people who previously used the hand dryer.

the Dyson AirBlade and similar? Yeah, and the hand holes are none too big either, and I'm sure people bump into the sides and those get gross too. Not a fan, they kinda squick me out a bit.

I guess in theory people have washed their hands by that point, but not everybody has washed them well enough. It's at least 20 seconds of solid rubbing, people, not just in and out of the water. The temperature doesn't matter, what matters is being under there for long enough the germs come off.

> It's at least 20 seconds of solid rubbing, people, not just in and out of the water. The temperature doesn't matter, what matters is being under there for long enough the germs come off.

Anecdotally, I don't wash for anything close to 20 seconds and I'm sick much less often than my coworkers who do. I'm also not afraid to touch food with my hands

>... Of those that exist, nearly all have measured reductions in overall numbers of microbes, only a small proportion of which can cause illness, and have not measured impacts on health. Solely reducing numbers of microbes on hands is not necessarily linked to better health.

https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/show-me-the-science-handwash...

Yeah, removal of all germs is not something I would ever be interested in. I'm keen to keep a strong immune system, thanks.

Having said that, I'm also not keen to aerosolise and breathe in whatever's on the hands of the ten people who used the hand dryer before me. I like the hand dryers that blast a decent flow of warm air past your hands towards the floor, rather than an extreme flow of cold air past your hands at a pool of other people's used hand-washing water.

You can keep your germs, but please wash your hands long enough so you don’t pass them onto others. That’s why we have restaurant staff wash their hands

This has been shown to be a problem. I hate them.

Worse yet, it's not like they're using internal canisters of compressed air. They're just sucking in whatever's floating around in the bathroom atmosphere and then blasting it onto your moist hands.

I hate those things.

I believe this has been known a very long time. That's why most tooth brushes are full of fecal coliform.

But given how nasty c-diff is, perhaps this will lead to some change in behavior or environment.

Didn’t they test this with toothbrushes on mythbusters? I have long believed toilets spray germs around. If you flush with your arm directly above you will feel fine droplets hit it. Those same droplets would also hit the ground outside the toilet. The next person who walks through the bathroom will spread those germs across the floor and on to other surfaces. I keep my toothbrush in a drawer.

I also always assumed that was the case and flushed with the lid on.

Also I avoid air hand driers as much as possible.

not to mention hand dryers..

https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/04/dyson-dryers-hurl-60...

Apparently designers of large air craft have been aware of things like this for quite some time. It's not a good look if everyone on a 747 comes down with measles, or worse.

Airplane toilets don't flush with large amounts of water like toilets on the ground, they just use a strong vacuum to evacuate the bowl.

sounds like an issue that can be mitigated by a simple $400 toilet seat built using tools from NBC protection arsenal like pressure differential - i.e. flush activates only when the seat is down and there is lower pressure by air suction from under the seat during and a bit after the flush. Probably can make for a small (what are the number of toilets in US hospitals? in the world? and also can be sold to some people who have some money to spare :) cottage business.

I prefer the engineering solution that improves the smell in restrooms.

A laminar (sp) flow "air-curtain" from fresh air directed down at the doorway to isolate the restroom. Combined with an overall positive (to local environment) pressure airflow design such that the restroom is one of the lowest-draw places in the building and has a direct egress for ejecting air.

The toilet could probably be improved by use of a UV clear lid shaped to let any backspray drip back inside of the toilet, a UV sanitation lamp (on either low voltage AC or DC with ground-fault protection systems), and maybe some minor automation to lift the lid and/or seat again depending on settings.

Upgrade to modern bidet (asian/Japanese style) toilet optional.

This another reason why we should have dry toilets. Flushing toilets waste water and excrement that could be put to good use.

There's some high tech air and minimal water toilets in the service station on the M4 in the UK, there is a locking closing lid that triggers the flush, in the light of this seems very sensible.

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