Public bathroom can cause infections and shorten Carnival – 02/18/2023 – Equilíbrio

The municipality of São Paulo alone should provide 28,000 chemical toilets to serve the 15 million revelers that the city should receive this Carnival, according to the city hall. With so many people like that, Moacyr Silva Júnior, an infectologist at Albert Einstein Hospital, says it is necessary to be aware of the risks of infection.

Shared toilets may be contaminated by unknown pathogens. Several viruses, such as rotavirus and norovirus, can cause symptoms such as diarrhea, fever, or vomiting. But the specialist says that, even in the middle of the revelry, it is possible to prevent this threat.

“There is no ideal world. Everyone must have used a bathroom like this and know that it is extremely dirty”, he says. The doctor points out that washing your hands is the best way to avoid an infection. It’s also important to sanitize before eating, and avoid touching your mouth and face.

This is because the so-called fecal-oral route is the one most likely to cause diseases resulting from the use of public restrooms. When an infected person uses the toilet, they can leave behind viruses on surfaces, whether around the toilet, on the walls or even on the door handle. When we touch these regions, the pathogens are transferred to our body, but the skin, in general, is able to protect us from any symptoms.

The problem lies in the hands and in the human habit of touching one’s own face, often unnoticed. The mouth is the favorite gateway for most of these microorganisms, which can reach the intestines directly, where they multiply and cause various symptoms.

But it’s not just viruses that can be present in a chemical toilet. Among the garbage and dirt that he accumulates during the revelry, bacteria can also hide, such as Salmonella and the Shigella. These pathogens come from the feces and vomit of people who pass through the toilet throughout the day and can survive on surfaces from Saturday to Ash Wednesday.

The urine of revelers can also be a source of infectious agents. In a survey published in the scientific journal Journal of Applied Microbiology, researchers from the United States claim that smallpox, adenovirus and the coronavirus have already been detected in the pee of patients. According to the authors of the work, adequate cleaning with disinfectants is necessary to have a healthy environment.

Parasites that cause STIs (sexually transmitted infections), on the other hand, are out of the question. Diseases spread through unprotected sex or other types of close person-to-person contact, and their pathogens don’t survive long enough on a surface like a toilet to infect the next user. To avoid them, therefore, the use of condoms is the absolute recommendation of doctors.

Professor at USP (University of São Paulo), José Luiz Mucci, points out that, despite the name, chemical toilets do not use artificial substances. This equipment consists of large reservoirs that can contain up to 200 liters of material, either faeces or urine, and which must be used as normal toilets. At the end of the day, they are emptied into septic trucks.

Created to provide comfort for people who work in open environments, such as construction sites, it began to be used in major events, such as concerts, football games and Carnival blocks to serve the population.

“If the bathroom is used correctly, there is no risk at all. The problem is that it is not used properly, especially during Carnival”, says the professor.

In addition to not being regularly cleaned, the bathrooms at Carnival still suffer from being too closed. A survey carried out in Taiwan showed that bathrooms concentrate five times more bacteria when they are poorly ventilated. Through the counting of pathogens, the specialists discovered that the microorganisms are concentrated in the external regions of the vase and, mainly, in the floor.

“It’s always worth taking an alcohol gel or wet wipes, which work well. Avoid using it if the bathroom is very dirty, with signs of misuse”, says Mucci. In this case, however difficult it may be, the teacher recommends looking for another one. Purses, backpacks and other personal belongings also deserve a little attention, so they don’t get dirty with excrement from previous users.

Experts, however, agree that it’s better to use the space, taking care not to touch the dirty parts, than holding back the urge to pee for many hours. “We don’t need to be paranoid about going into the bathroom”, points out Mucci, “the risk of contracting contamination exists, but it is small.”