I took my 5 year old daughter to use a public restroom the other day. It was a gas station and not very clean at all ... but my daughter could not hold it any longer, so I had to use it. I wiped the seat with a baby wipe and dried it off with toilet tissue, then let my daughter use it. After she was was done and washed her hands, I decided to use the toilet. Well, it's then that I noticed that there was wetness around the edges of the toilet seat, so I lifted up the lid and there was wet urine all over the underside of the toilet seat (like someone squatted and missed and it dribbled all over underneath). Now, I KNOW it was not my daughter as she sits in the middle of the toilet and never gets urine under the seat like that. It had to be urine from someone else. The problem is, my daughter, being so small, will often wrap her fingers around the toilet seat rim to hold on (her feet can't reach the floor). My concern is that she may have gotten that wet urine (from someone else) on her fingertips and then grabbed toilet tissue (which she balls up and touched all over) and then wiped herself, transferring whatever germs are in that urine to herself.

I've read conflicting info online. I know that stds live in WETNESS and die when it's dry. That is why I am concerned about the WET urine. I know that that urine can be tested for stds, so the std germs must be able to live in some urine. So my question is ..... if the std germs can live in urine, how long can they live (until it dries???) and can wet urine transmit stds to other people (from hands to privates like my daughter may have done on that toilet seat)?

I'm worried because I don't have any answers, and online I get conflicting answers.



Thanks for any information you can give me.

~ Rachel

Hi Rachel,

Excellent question. Thanks for posting.

I've had that happen with my own kids and it feels really disgusting.
However, please know that urine is sterile. Neither you nor your daughter can get anything from touching it.

Remember that STD stands for Sexually Transmitted Disease. You have to have direct contact with the person who has one. If we could get it from urine, we'd all have whatever was in the urine.

I hope this helps.

Dharma

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