Your reusable water bottle contains 40,000 times more bacteria than toilet seat, finds a study

Reusable water bottles has around 40,000 times more bacteria than the average toilet seat, finds a study. As per a research conducted by US-based waterfilterguru.com, a water bottle contains twice as many germs as the kitchen sink, four times the amount of bacteria as a computer mouse and 14 times more than a pet's drinking bowl. The findings are shocking as people are likely to get infected with contaminated bottle in comparison to the predictably more contaminated products like toys, bags etc.

The research further revealed that the bottle caps are the cleanest part of the bottle, with a tenth of the amount of bacteria. In order to prevent yourself from these bacteria, the researchers recommended that users should wash the bottle at least once a day with hot soapy water, and sanitizing it at least once a week.

To study the presence of bacteria on the bottle, researchers used different parts of water bottles including the spout lid, screw-top lid, stray lid and squeeze-top lid, three times each, and found two types of bacteria present - gram-negative rods and bacillus, HuffPost reported.


The researchers revealed that while gram-negative bacteria can cause infections that are increasingly resistant to antibiotics, certain types of bacillus can result in gastrointestinal issues.

However, some experts said that even though bottles may serve as a breeding ground for high numbers of bacteria, it might not be necessarily as dangerous as the findings have projected. Experts said water bottles are likely to be contaminated with the bacteria that are already in people's mouths.