Do you know about "the Plume"?

[kay1864]

Dear Cecil:

I read somewhere years ago that when you flush the toilet with the lid open, a plume of contaminated water droplets is ejected into the air and lands on everything in the bathroom

and

As Professor Gerba's research would later determine, however, the bathroom was hardly the most dangerous part of the house, microbe-wise. The real pesthole: the kitchen sponge or dishcloth <phrase snipped for the squeamish>

Next came the kitchen sink, the bathroom sink, and the kitchen faucet handle. The toilet seat was the least contaminated of 15 household locales studied.

"If an alien came from space and studied the bacterial counts," the professor says, "he probably would conclude he should wash his hands in your toilet and crap in your sink."

Rest of column here: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990416.html

Not for the overly-squeamish...but it IS the sorta stuff that everyone should know.

Me, when I'm using a public toilet (the kind that uses pressure rather than gravity to flush) I always turn my back quickly after hitting that handle.


This Public Service Announcement brought to you by kay1864 :hi:

[DS1]

1. I just crap in one lucky servant's hands

[ohiosmith]

4. :

:rofl:

[skygazer]

2. I wondered why that alien crapped in my sink

AND he peed on my rug. :grr:

That rug really tied the room together. :cry:

[kay1864]

3. At least he didn't

look at any porn!

[unpossibles]

7. Well. I guess we can close the books on that one n/t

[evlbstrd]

5. Microbe Porn!

We are the most germ-conscious society on earth.

[kay1864]

6. Sometimes with good reason

esp. now that multi-drug resistant staph has evolved. And coliform bacteria ain't exactly benign.

I toss the kitchen sponge into the dishwasher every couple of days. I don't worry much about bathtubs or toilet seats, but kitchen sinks are a haven.

:scared:

[evlbstrd]

8. Drug resistance doesn't occur out of the blue.

Over-prescription causes it. Simply washing your hands goes a long way toward defeating coliform.
Sponges stink. I don't use them.

[kay1864]

9. Of course not

Not to mention careless hospital practices. And of course washing hands is a good idea. Still, I don't want to inhale extra coliform bacteria if I can avoid it.

The article above is just common sense, not germ obsession.

[evlbstrd]

10. How did we ever survive to this point?

[kay1864]

11. Straw man much?

:eyes:

[evlbstrd]

12. Not really.

I honestly think we may sanitize ourselves out of existence.

[skygazer]

14. Well, I do think there's a lot to this

We overprotect our children with the result that they never get exposed to things they'd otherwise build up a healthy immunity to. It's theorized (and I don't know how accurate it is) that one of the reasons kids are prone to so many more allergies now is because our immune systems are not given the chance to fight off bacteria so they search for other foreign invaders.

I know people who will not leave the house with their newborns until the kid gets their first shots. My kids were dragged all over the place from the day they left the hospital. You need to have some contact with germs.

[evlbstrd]

15. That's what I think, too.

I don't bemoan advances in antibiotics, but worry about overuse. I recall my own childhood, when infection called for sulfa drugs. Penicillin was reserved for really serious stuff.

[hedgehog]

25. I've heard that and have trouble believing it since my house is far

from totally sanitized and everyone has allergies and/or asthma. I wonder if the cleaning agents are triggering the asthma rahter than the absence of germs?

[kay1864]

17. Where am I advocating oversanitizing, exactly?

Geez Louise!

[evlbstrd]

19. You didn't.

Just stating my position.

[kay1864]

20. So your original reply of "Microbe Porn"

wasn't an actual reply to my OP then?

[evlbstrd]

21. Of course it was.

But I didn't single you out for over-sanitizing.

[kay1864]

23. Now you're contradicting yourself

If

"We are the most germ-conscious society on earth"

is an actual reply (as opposed to a random non sequitur comment) to my OP, then yeah, you're implicitly disparaging the article above.

Do you disagree with it or not? If not, then why post the kind of reply you did?

[evlbstrd]

26. Did you write the article?

Do you fear your toilet?

[kay1864]

27. Nitpick much?

Where is the article advocating oversanitizing, exactly?
Happy now?
:eyes:


Do you fear your toilet?
Have you stopped beating your wife?

[evlbstrd]

28. I nitpick a lot.

Yes, I've stopped beating my wife. I kicked her out for overzealously cleaning the toilet.

[kay1864]

29. I noticed. It's annoying and time-wasting.

But to repeat:

Where is the article advocating oversanitizing, exactly?

[evlbstrd]

30. It didn't.

But it is just one symptom of American Germ Phobia.
And why are you allowing me to waste your precious time?

[kay1864]

32. Well I'm glad you've finally abandoned that line of reasoning

So then where is this article germophobic, exactly?

[evlbstrd]

33. You're too generous.

Giving me credit for reason.
The enitre tone of the article is germ phobic. By your own admission you turn your back on the toilet when flushing. Your warn the squeamish. What would you conclude?

[kay1864]

35. Maybe you don't understand the difference between

"germ phobia" and "germ caution".

I avoid deliberately inhaling a spray of fecal coliform bacteria if I can help it. That would be caution, not fear. It's a small easy step akin to, oh, washing your hands after using the toilet. Is that "phobic" too?

The article advocates cleaning fecal coliform bacteria. That too would be caution, not fear.

It also points out the following:

- Fifty to eighty percent of all food-borne illnesses originate in the home.
- Food-borne pathogens cause 6.5 million cases of gastroenteritis and 9,000 deaths per year.
- Home contamination is blamed for 20 percent of food-poisoning cases, more than any other source.

Those argue for simple caution and common sense. If recognition of that is "phobia" to you, that's your weird label, not mine.

Warning the squeamish has nought to do with either, but simply being kind to Lounge readers.

[evlbstrd]

36. We already agreed on the simplicity of prevention.

As well as the necessity.
I was led to the observation (my opinion) that the U.S. is the most germ-phobic nation on earth. People take prevention to extremes. You seemed to take it very personally.
Here I am, wasting more of your time and annoying you over nothing but shit.

[kay1864]

39. Taking it personally? No.

Just enjoying pointing out the silliness and "extremes" of your own argument.

TTFN. End of my work day.



BTW, if you were a better nitpicker you'd notice that I never said that *I* was annoyed or that my time was wasted, but rather that I was highlighting the nature of your posts. Your nitpicking needs some work!

[evlbstrd]

40. End of the day here, too.

If you didn't say I was annoying or wasting time, who did?

[Felix Mala]

13. I think they did this on Mythbusters...

[kay1864]

18. Do you mean this one?

Pouring gasoline down a toilet and lighting it will cause the toilet to explode.

Busted

The gasoline simply burned without exploding. Not even a tin of gunpowder in the toilet bowl was able to eject Buster from the seat.


I think that's a different kind of plume :)

[Cabcere]

22. Yeah, they did.

The rerun was on a few days ago, I think...they tested the five-second rule (busted - time has virtually no effect on the amount of bacteria something picks up from a surface), and as part of the test they collected samples from everywhere in the shop (the toilet seat was the cleanest).

No, I'm not an obsessive nerd at all... :yoiks:

[kay1864]

24. Reminds me of something else I read...

How people in offices are so careful not to touch the sink or door handles, and yet they were cleaner than the average desk or cubicle. One gets cleaned often, and the other doesn't.

[SPKrazy]

16. yes... knew about that

hate public restrooms for that reason

:scared:


also never use an electric hand dryer in a public restroom because they SUCK all the germs in the air and blast them down on your hands and into your breathing proximity :puke:

[Elidor]

31. I probably shouldn't bring this up

But the average computer keyboard is even nastier than anything in your bathroom.

[kay1864]

37. Yup. See a couple posts up.

Still, you're more likely to get a cold virus etc. from a keyboard. The "dreaded plume" can cause food poisoning etc. Not fun.

But you're right, the *probability* is higher with a keyboard. The *consequences* are probably lower though.

[EnviroBat]

34. I think an Alien farted in my dinner once.

But I have no strong evidence to support the theory at this time. The truth is out there...

[kay1864]

38. I hate that!

And they don't even say "excuse me" since in their culture, it's a compliment.

Damn aliens... :grr:

[EnviroBat]

41. Hehehe... I KNOW!