19 November 2009

Study warns of cruise ship public bathrooms

To avoid chances of getting sick, avoid using cruise ship’s public bathrooms, advises a recent US study…well, maybe, anyway.

Researchers found that only 37 percent of 273 randomly selected public restrooms on cruise ships that were checked on 1,546 occasions were cleaned at least daily.

On 275 occasions, no objects in a restroom were cleaned for at least 24 hours with baby changing tables found to be the least thoroughly cleaned object.

These findings, however, were contrary to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which regularly inspects ships and requires them to meet minimum standards.

"The cruising industry takes the sanitation of its vessels and the mitigation of all gastrointestinal illnesses, including norovirus, very seriously," said Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) in a statement.

CLIA said the latest study into hygiene on cruise ships did not find any relationship between the thoroughness of disinfecting restrooms and outbreaks of illness on cruise ships.

The other study, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, researcher Philip Carling of Carney Hospital and colleagues from the Cambridge Health Alliance and Tufts University School of Medicine said a lack of disinfectant may significantly increase the risk for illness.

"There was a substantial potential for washed hands to become contaminated while the passenger was exiting the restroom, given that only 35 percent of restroom exit knobs or pulls were cleaned daily," Carling said in a statement.

Carling told Reuters Health that cruise passengers should minimize public restroom use, wash hands with soap and water rather than alcohol-based hand rubs, and be aware of the disease transmission potential from all publicly touched surfaces.

Toilet seats were the best-cleaned object. Of the 2,010 toilet seats evaluated, 50 percent had been cleaned.

By David Wilkening