Do you close the lid while flushing the toilet? If you just said no, then you definitely should because there is a thing known as ‘faecal fountain’ and it’s not something you want to contend with.
Canadian TikToker Kristin (@xxiamkristinxx) revealed why you should always, we repeat, ALWAYS, put down your toilet lid before you flush. She said that she saw this video 10 years ago and she still follows it.
She shared a clip from 2011 that featured a Discovery series called ‘Curiosity’. In the distressing episode, it detailed exactly how much bacteria gets splattered across the entire bathroom every single time you flush the toilet.
In the short clip from the show, host Mike Rowe was joined by an expert to see how germs travel in the bathroom. The expert quotes, “When you pee you get this splatter, this sort of fountain of life splattering back out from the toilet. And when you poop it is worse. It is kind of a faecal fountain.”
The expert, referred to as Dr Don, then gets Mike to urinate in a toilet and turns off the bathroom lights.
He then whips out a UV black light which reveals exactly how many germs fly out into the air with every flush.
As these germs can easily travel up to 10 feet, there were several illuminated dots spread across the entire bathroom, even on a toothbrush.
Kristin appears in the clip and says, “Now if that video doesn’t traumatise you enough, think about the fact that public bathrooms don’t have toilet seat lids.”
In the clip, Rowe says that “Therein lies the contradiction of the modern toilet – a contraption made to whisk germs away is actually spewing them right back at us. As you can see with these graphic enhancements, the mist from this bowl can spread staphylococcus and e-coli up to 10ft, landing on my razor or my toothbrush. On rare occasions, staph infections can lead to inflammation of the brain, while e-coli can damage your kidneys.”
The clip has garnered a whopping 9 million views and people are grateful to have come across the life changing video.
Close the damn lid, y’all!