It may seem like a subject ripe for toilet humour - but whether you close the lavatory lid before you flush could have an impact on the spread of disease, according to an expert.
Professor Mark Wilcox, Clinical Director of Microbiology at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said leaving the lid up can allow a cloud of bacteria to explode into the air, settling on nearby surfaces.
Sanitary: Leaving the toilet seat up allows the spread of germs
This increases the risk of viruses like the winter vomiting bug of transmitting to another person.
'It is very clear from our work that the lid is there for a reason,' Professor Wilcox told Mail Online.
Professor Wilcox and colleagues from Leeds University conducted a study to see how using a toilet lid could affect the spread of disease, specifically in hospitals.
They used a sterilised toilet cubicle and created a 'diarrhoea effect' in the bowl using stool samples that had been infected with the hospital superbug C. difficile.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2081680/How-leaving-toilet-lid-flushing-aid-spread-winter-vomiting-bug.html#ixzz1iRWg8eUb
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