New research has uncovered significant differences in the levels of bacteria present in hospital restrooms, with gender-neutral facilities showing the highest concentration of germs, including multi-drug resistant superbugs. 

The findings, which were part of a comprehensive study spanning multiple hospital environments in Lanarkshire, Scotland, were presented at a medical conference at Barcelona, Spain, from April 27-30, The Telegraph reports.

The study’s results indicated that restrooms designated for female use contained noticeably fewer microbes compared to their male counterparts. A notable discovery was that door handles in men’s staff facilities were found to be up to eight times more contaminated than those in women’s restrooms. 

However, the research highlighted that gender-neutral bathrooms, encompassing those accessible to disabled persons, registered the highest germ levels among all the facilities examined.

“The move to convert traditional male and female facilities to unisex facilities in some hospitals raises concern that people might be exposed to higher risks of contamination,” a consultant microbiologist and researcher at NHS Lanarkshire, Stephanie Dancer, told the UK newspaper.

“For example, hand hygiene surveys show that women are more likely to clean their hands after bathroom use than men, so we decided to investigate which microbes were present on different surfaces in toilets and how many of them there were,” she said.