Public Restrooms Are So Contaminated That They Leave Your Hands Filthier Than Before You Washed Them

Ever get the feeling that bathrooms are just really dirty? Well yes, they are dirty. However, the soap you thought was cleaning your hands is making even more of a mess. Microbiologists have discovered that a quarter of the soap in public restrooms is so contaminated that it leaves your hands filthier than before you washed them.

Chances are at this level you should just wash your hands in the bowl before washing.

Gerba headed a team of researchers that tested more than 500 soap samples that GOJO collected from public restrooms in five cities: Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Columbus, Ohio, as reported in the March 2011 "Journal of Environmental Health." The samples were taken from refillable soap dispensers in offices, health clubs, restaurants, and retail stores, and shipped on ice via overnight mail to the University of Arizona."

Dave Shumaker, a microbiology scientist in research and development at GOJO Industries in Akron, said that what they found in the soap was "disgusting".

Turns out that washing with dirty soap could leave your hands with "25 times more (potentially harmful) gram-negative bacteria after washing than before washing with contaminated soap," Shumaker said. "You could end up going into a public restroom and coming out dirtier than you were before.""

Simple solution.... don't wash your hands right? Wrong.

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