(Melinda Wenner Moyer/ New York Times) — There are a handful of things in this world I’m extremely thankful for, yet also quite grossed out by. Public bathrooms are one of them. (Also: colonoscopies.) My disgust peaks around this time of year, when everyone around me seems to be coughing or sneezing or both — sometimes in the next stall.
What, if anything, can we do to minimize our exposure to germs when we have to relieve ourselves in public? I called a handful of experts — it’s fun to ask total strangers about toilet bacteria, believe me — and dug up some pretty nasty research to find out. You’re welcome.
In a 1995 study, a researcher at the University of California, San Diego, monitored how much toilet paper was used in each of four stalls in a men’s room at a state beach. Over 10 weeks, he found that 60 percent of the paper was used in the two middle stalls, which suggests that these were the most commonly chosen. Assuming that all stalls are cleaned at the same frequency, the cleanest stalls should, then, be the ones on the ends. (…)