What Microbes Lurked In the Last Public Restroom You Used

"The invisible world of the bathroom isn't pretty — unless you're a microbe. After scanning the microbial zoo of four public restrooms recently, a team of researchers found a diverse swarm of characters that persisted for months despite regular cleaning of the facilities."

"The goal of the study, published in the December issue of Applied and Environmental Microbiology, was to better understand how communities of bacteria and viruses can shift in these very public places across a couple of months."

"To get their down-and-dirty readings, the researchers selected four bathrooms at San Diego State University (in the North Life Sciences building, in case you're in the neighborhood, and want to plan accordingly)."