As we know, bacteria abound in toilets. But according to a British study, the passenger compartment of a car is even dirtier than toilet bowls!
- The interior of a car has more fecal bacteria than toilet bowls.
- A link has been established between the age of a car and the levels of bacteria likely to be found in it.
- The trunk and driver’s seat are the dirtiest areas of a vehicle.
“Are we cleaning our cars thoroughly enough? How dirty is a vehicle?” These are the questions that Jonathan Cox, lecturer in microbiology at the University of Aston in Birmingham (United Kingdom) and his team of researchers have tried to answer. In order to have the heart of it, the latter realized a study published on the ScrapCarComparison websitewho commissioned the work, on January 31.
To carry out their research, the microbiologists took samples from five used cars, which were between 2 and 17 years old, to find out which areas of the vehicle harbor the most bacteria. And to find out if the interior of cars is dirtier than a toilet bowl, the scientists also took samples from two toilet seats. They analyzed and compared all the samples.
More fecal bacteria found in cars than in toilets
Result: motorists should clean the passenger compartments of their cars more often because the latter contained faecal bacteria in a much higher number than those found on the two toilet bowls! The list of bacteria identified in vehicles includedEscherichia colibacteria Bacillus subtilisstaphylococci, pyocyanin bacilli and yeasts Rhodotorula. “The results of this study are fascinating because they help show that despite cleaning our cars, the older they are, the dirtier they are generally,” said the lecturer.
The trunk would house more microorganisms
According to the study, the dirtiest areas of a car are the trunk (1,425 bacteria identified) and the driver’s seat (649 microbes). Then we find the gear lever (407 germs), the dashboard (317 bacteria identified) and the steering wheel (146 micro-organisms). “Due to the increased use of disinfectants since the Covid-19 pandemic, surfaces in contact with the driver generally did not show the level of bacteria that we expected, which means that areas such as the steering wheel did not were not as contaminated as they might have been a few years ago”explained Jonathan Cox.
“This study showed that people could definitely do more to keep their cars clean. Ultimately, it’s about mitigating the risk of getting sick. We’re unlikely to eat food in the trunk of our car, but we often consume it in the driver’s seat”, reported the microbiologist. “It is important to be aware that there is a difference between being clean visually and being clean biologically. We usually focus on the visual element, which means that if something looks clean or tidy, we are not looking not to clean more thoroughly”, he added.
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