Can I get a UTI from a dirty toilet?

Although you say using dirty toilets does not cause UTIs, I always get the infection from dirty toilets. So, who is fooling who? What about sex, each time I sleep with my husband I get sick. Gabby 

Dear Gabby,

Women, unlike men, use toilets while sitting on the toilet seat. The fear here then is risking infections from dirty seats or a splash from dirty toilet water.

Unless the urethra comes in contact with the toilet seat or the water from the dirty toilet splashes on the urethral opening, dirty toilets are unlikely to lead to urinary tract infections (UTIs). What is true, however, is that fear of using dirty toilets and holding on to urine is more likely to increase a woman’s chance of getting a UTI.

Many women even think UTIs are sexually transmitted just because they are most common in sexually active women. Honeymoon cystitis, which is a bladder infection related to sexual activity after long periods of female abstinence or in newlyweds, may happen due to the transfer of germs from the anal area to the urethra and this may happen even when a man has used a condom or not is still not taken to be sexually transmitted.

UTIs mostly happen to women because naturally, they have the urethral opening almost next to the anus hence, risking contamination of the urethra.

I do not know how old you are, but post-menopause women keep getting UTIs because low levels of Oestrogen hormones lead to thinning out the urethral muscles, which apart from the reduced acidity of the vaginal canal risks one recurrent UTI.

Many people clean toilets with various chemicals, some corrosive, risking reactions to the contact parts which may be mistaken for STDs and UTIs.

So, whereas UTIs may not be transmitted by dirty toilets, it is prudent when one visits toilets to limit touching surfaces as much as possible and wash hands with soap and water in the washrooms and at a tap outside of the toilets.

Prevention of UTIs includes taking lots of fluids and passing lots of urine, answering the urge to pass urine, and wiping from front to back after a long or short call.

The use of intravaginal oestrogens may help prevent UTIs in post-menopausal women.