A new study shows that toilets contaminated with C difficile spores are a persistent source of environmental contamination over an extended number of flushes.
A flushometer toilet was seeded with C difficile spores in a sealed chamber. The toilet was flushed 24 times, with postflush bowl water samples and surfaces sampled periodically to determine levels of C difficile spores. Air samples were collected after each of 12 flushes. Results showed that spores were present in bowl water even after 24 flushes. Large droplet spore deposition accumulated over the 24-flush period. Droplet nuclei spore bioaerosol was produced over at least 12 flushes.
The report can be found at https://www.ajicjournal.org/article/S0196-6553(18)31098-8/fulltext#.XBeyfxQzeJk.twitter
