2019
Volume 19, Number 1/2, pp. 41-44
Towards a standard for the maximum acceptable microbial contamination of surfaces in public lavatories in Europe
Jeremy J. Ramsden
Clore Laboratory, the University of Buckingham, MK18 1EG, UK
Contracting an infection from a pathogenic bacterium is unpleasant and may shorten life expectancy at the population level. It is a responsibility of public health authorities to minimize the probability of such infections taking place in public spaces. An objective, quantitative methods of determining the amount that it is reasonable to spend on measures to minimize that probability (i.e., cleaning) is proposed, but cannot be fully exploited at present because of the general lack of reliable knowledge in the area. As an interim proposal, it is therefore suggested that a limit of 10 cfu/cm2 (aerobic colony count) for hand touch surfaces in public lavatories will ensure an acceptably low probability of becoming infected from them.