When you see adverts on TV for bathroom cleaners, they normally depict germs as horrible little critters with sharp teeth! Whilst you won’t encounter anything that scary, your bathroom does harbour germs that seem to congregate daily and can make you poorly if you don’t combat them regularly. We can’t live in a bubble and avoid germs, in fact, most of the germs live on our bodies. Thankfully, most are harmless but let’s take a look at those that could cause trouble in our bathrooms.

Gastrointestinal viruses that cause stomach upsets in humans, including the infamous  norovirus can be found on your toilet seat as well. Gastrointestinal viruses are easily transmitted and can remain on a solid surface for as much as a week.

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Enteric pathogens are organisms spread by contaminated foods. These include things like E. coli, salmonella and campylobacter. E. coli is particularly nasty, causing severe diarrhoea with bloody stools.

Dermatophytid fungi, such as athlete’s foot, can be transmitted by walking barefoot in the bathroom. Other residual fungi, indigenous to showers include mould and mildew. Whilst they don’t cause infection, they can exacerbate asthma and other allergies.

The good news is that if you clean regularly and practice basic hygiene, there’s very little risk from the bathroom germs. Only a tiny percentage of all germs are pathogenic — meaning they can make us sick.

Following a few simple rules will avoid transmitting anything unpleasant:

• Replace items that are tough to clean with easy-clean options. For example, for Waterproof Roller Blinds, visit http://www.ucblinds.co.uk/PVC-Waterproof-Roller-Blinds
• Clean regularly which includes cleaning all bathroom floors and solid surfaces with a disinfectant cleanser on a weekly basis. A deep clean is recommended about once a month. If you or a family member has had the flu or a stomach bug, you might want to step up the cleaning.

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• Use the right cleaner when tackling bathroom germs, preferably one with bleach in.
• Pay special attention to the toilet bowl and scrub with soap, disinfectant, and a brush once a week. Allow the bleach to sit in the bowl and seat surface for a good 10 minutes before rinsing with soapy water.
• Keep shower walls and floors free of mould and mildew.
• For spot cleaning bathroom germs, keep either a spray bottle of the bleach solution or packaged cleaning wipes within arm’s reach in every bathroom.
• Never be tempted to reuse bathroom cleaning sponges as they can harbour bacteria themselves and leave surfaces more germy than when you started.

• Wash your hands thoroughly after using the toilet and before brushing your teeth.
• Make sure you close the toilet lid when you flush as flushing aerosolizes all the organisms found in the toilet bowl, and there are 3.2 million microbes per square inch of toilet bowl. Yuck!
• Use disposable bathroom cups instead of glasses.

Following these steps means you’re likely to stay fairly safe from bathroom germs. The majority of germs are harmless to us and are useful in that they they maintain our life and our immune systems.