'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
When it comes to ensuring the toilet doesn’t leave tiny particles of fecal matter all over your bathroom every time you go number two, one piece of advice has held strong: just make sure you put down the toilet lid before you flush.
However, a new study suggests closing the toilet seat may not have as big of an impact as we thought in cutting down the risk of pathogens getting on our bathroom surfaces.
The study, published last week in the peer-reviewed American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC), found that the amount of viral contamination of bathroom surfaces did not change whether the toilet seat was up or down during flushing.
“With results showing that closing toilet lids has no meaningful impact on preventing the spread of viral particles, our study highlights the importance of regular disinfection of toilets to reduce contamination and prevent the spread of viruses,” Charles P. Gerba, professor of virology at the University of Arizona and senior author of this study, said in a press release.
He added that the findings are most concerning for health-care settings, where potential pathogens pose a higher risk to immunocompromised patients who might be immunocompromised. It's important to note that this study did not look at airborne particles, only those that settle on surfaces.
In order to measure the toilet lid’s effect, researchers took a surrogate for the kind of gastrointestinal bacteria that might end up in a toilet during the average visit and added that to the toilet water. Then, they tested how far it could spread when the toilet was flushed with the lid up or down.
Two different types of toilet sold in the U.S. were used, including a public toilet located in the public restroom of an office building and a toilet in a residential home. The surrogate was not a human or animal pathogen, so no protective clothing was required, the study says.
Researchers recorded the amount of bacteria that settled on surfaces in the bathroom around one minute after each test flush.
Whether the toilet was flushed with the lid up or down, there was no statistical difference between the amount of viral material found on the floor or toilet seat, researchers found.
There was minimal contamination of the walls in all scenarios.
However, a second analysis, in which researchers looked at how effective it was to clean the toilet with or without disinfectant, showed that cleaning the toilet bowl with disinfectant and a toilet brush significantly reduced the amount of virus present in the toilet.
“(This study) underscores the importance of regular disinfection of surfaces in healthcare settings for reducing the spread of viral infections,” Tania Bubb, 2024 president of AJIC, said in the press release.
So should we completely forego putting the toilet seat down to flush? Probably not, according to existing research.
This study only looked at surfaces, but a 2022 study, for instance, found that flushing the toilet with the seat open created a huge amount of airborne particles that could linger in the air for minutes—which is definitely not something anyone would want to inhale.
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.