Study reveals that 40% of Hong Kong people's toilet hygiene is poor, men spit into pee pockets

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Written by: Li Enci

2020-01-02 08:00

The hygienic situation of public toilets in Hong Kong varies, depending on the hygiene habits of the users. The University of Hong Kong, in conjunction with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the School of Public Health of Zhejiang University, conducted a study on the toilet hygiene habits of Hong Kong citizens between 2016 and 2018.

He Bailiang, director of the Center for Infection and Infectious Diseases of the University of Hong Kong, found through research that Hong Kong people's toilet hygiene habits are not good. More than 10% of the respondents will set foot on the toilet board and about 40% of the male respondents will urinate. Spitting, some interviewees said that spitting was pleasant and showed man's spirit.

He Bailiang suggested that if the public sits on the toilet board to use the toilet, they should wipe the toilet board with alcohol once. (Photo by Lu Yiming)

The study was conducted by the Department of Family Medicine and Primary Medical Sciences, the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Sciences, the Centre for Infection and Infectious Diseases of the University of Hong Kong, and academics from the United Kingdom and the Mainland. The study is divided into two parts, one is the focus group, and the other is the questionnaire survey.

The first part was an in-depth interview. The team members were divided into four groups with 26 people aged 18 to 86, and held an hourly group discussion to understand their habits and thoughts when using the toilet.

Reasons for not washing hands: no contact with urine

When asked about the reasons for washing hands after going to the toilet, most of the interviewees expressed the desire to reduce bacteria and fear of odor, etc. One male respondent said that "they will wash their hands first when exposed to urine." In this regard, He Bailiang said If the toilet cover is not covered when the last user flushes the toilet, the water spots of feces, urine, vomit, etc. will splash everywhere; plus the toilet environment is generally not ventilated, even if no facilities are touched, there is a chance Bacteria from the air.

Most interviewees stated that they would only wash their hands with clean water after using the toilet. Reasons for not using hand sanitizers were "not provided", "hand sanitizer was diluted and mixed with other liquids", and "buttons were dirty". He Bailiang said that the amount of bacteria in public toilets is in the hundreds of millions. Washing hands with clean water can only kill about 90% of the bacteria. The remaining 10% of bacteria still have the opportunity to cause disease. Minutes, it can kill 99% of the bacteria; as for the cleaning effect of using alcohol hand rub, it can kill more than 99.999% of the bacteria.

The second part of the study was a questionnaire survey. The team distributed a total of 300 questionnaires to 10 community centers. Among the respondents, 70% were women and 30% were men; more than 40% were 18 to 40 years old, more than 40% were 40 to 65 years old, and only more than 10% were older than 65 years old. In terms of income, families with more than half The monthly income ranges from RMB 10,000 to RMB 40,000, and more than 30% of the household income is less than RMB 10,000.

Three adults use a toilet paper pad on the toilet board at 17%

The results of the questionnaire survey found that more than half of the respondents would sit on the toilet board, nearly half of the respondents would use alcohol to disinfect the toilet board every time, 30% of the respondents would use the toilet paper pad on the toilet board every time, and most would Respondents to the toilet board are all young people. He Bailiang said that the toilet board contains a large amount of bacteria from faeces and urine, including Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella and E. coli, etc. It is recommended that the public should use alcohol to wipe the toilet board once when sitting on the toilet board. 17% of the respondents would step on the toilet board while using the toilet. Some people in the country once stepped on the toilet board and suffered bruises. He Bailiang pointed out that this practice is "good tooth smoke", which is particularly high risk for the elderly.

Interviewee: Spitting into the urine show masculinity

About 40% of the male respondents said they would spit into the urine pocket. He Boliang described "the percentage is high" and concentrated on the elderly respondents. 40% of the respondents spit into the urine pocket “because they want to spit in other places”, which is the most common reason; and a small number of respondents agree that spitting into the urine pocket can show masculinity, Have pleasure "and" can help reduce stress. " He Bailiang said that because the urine bag is not covered, water droplets will be splashed when flushing, and the sputum content of bacteria is high, which may cause other users to get sick.

Half of the respondents were mainly young people who had covered the toilet before flushing

In addition, more than half of the respondents would cover the toilet before flushing, and only 20% of the respondents would do it every time, most of them young people. At the same time, more than 30% of respondents believe that flushing without a toilet cover would pose a health threat. He Bailiang believes that some people do not want to touch the toilet because they feel that the toilet cover is dirty, even if they know they need to be covered when flushing. He advised the public to cover the toilet board every time they go to the toilet and then wash their hands thoroughly.

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