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Additional research in multiple areas is warranted to assess the risks posed by toilet plume .
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COVID-19 could spread through toilet flushing : MJA report .
By NCA NewsWire
There are concerns toilets could spread COVID-19 because flushing could generate aerosols that linger in the air .
A report published in the Medical Journal of Australia highlighted several examples of how coronavirus was spreading via airborne transmission including by “ faecal aerosols produced by toilet flushing ”.
The article refers to an outbreak in an apartment building in China where the virus appeared to spread between a person on the 15th floor to “ vertically aligned flats ” on the 25th and 27th floors “ by means of driedout floor or bath drains ”.
“ An environmental sample in an unoccupied flat on the 16th floor was also positive . Faecal aerosols produced by toilet flushing were thought to be responsible ,” the report said .
Speaking to NCA NewsWire Deakin University Chair of Epidemiology , Professor Catherine Bennett said there was no evidence COVID-19 had spread via toilets in hotel quarantine but anything that increased the risk of aerosolization should be examined .
“ There ’ s going to be contaminated discharge ( after flushing ) but that depends on how the toilets work – that ’ s an engineering question ,” she said .
“ Anyway that you can actually increase your risk of aerosolization ( increases risk of transmission ).
“ Do we need to worry about the bathroom systems in hotels ? It ’ s something they should look at .”
She highlighted how the majority of instances where the virus had spread between returned travellers in hotel quarantine had occurred between adjacent rooms .
Professor Bennett said rooms above and below had bathrooms which could feed into the same sewage pipe , meaning there would be more examples of transmission between rooms on various floors , which wasn ’ t the case .
“ We ’ re not seeing vertical transmission , we ’ re only seeing transmission occur on the same floor ,” she said .
“ While we have to be aware of every possible flaw , particularly in hotel quarantine , we ’ re not seeing anything to suggest the plumbing side of it is an issue , but we ’ ve definitely seen enough to prove local aerosolized spread is the most important thing to focus on from here .”
The report called for more research into how toilets could spread infectious diseases .
“ Additional research in multiple areas is warranted to assess the risks posed by toilet plume , especially within health care facilities ,” the report stated .
University of South Australia epidemiologist Professor Adrian Esterman said transmission via aerosols was one of the reasons he always closed the lid before flushing .
“ Another way of generating aerosols is the use of hand blow dryers ,” he said .
Though studies have found traces of COVID-19 in the gastrointestinal tract , and sewage surveillance programs have detected traces in wastewater , there ’ s no evidence of infection taking place through faeces , the World Health Organization said last year .
The Department of Health said there wasn ’ t a big risk of COVID-19 spreading through toilet use in Australia because the country ’ s plumbing is different than in some other countries .
A spokesperson said that there were early fears that COVID-19 would spread in the same way as SARS did in 2003 , when high-rise apartment toilets were found to generate aerosols that contributed to transmission .
“ To date there has not been convincing evidence that COVID-19 mimics SARS completely , and for SARS this potential transmission pathway was not seen extensively in other regions indicating other factors including building codes are important to consider ,” the spokesperson said .
“ It is generally important that anyone who has been to the bathroom maintains good hand hygiene and washes their hands . People should also avoid touching their eyes , nose and mouth with unwashed hands .
“ The department monitors emerging evidence on transmission pathways , and notes that differences in plumbing and building codes exist between countries which may reduce the relevance of this issue in the Australian context .” ■
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