Your Suitcase Is 58 Times Dirtier Than a Public Toilet Seat, Study Finds

We’ve all become a little more germ-conscious since the pandemic with hand sanitizer still lurking in pockets and bags across our closets. And while you may think you’re being diligent by washing your hands frequently and perhaps even masking up during your travels, there is one place you really should be paying closer attention to: your luggage.

The oft-used item is a shudderingly gross source of harmful bacteria with the wheels specifically home to nearly 58 times more bacteria than a public toilet seat, according to a recent study from InsureandGo that was shared with Travel + Leisure.

To conduct its study, the company swab tested 10 different suitcases (a mix of soft- and hard-shell) at a London airport train station in partnership with microbiologist Amy-May Pointer to determine just how gnarly our luggage can get. Pointer also took swabs from control surfaces, including a public toilet seat and a flush button to compare.

“Suitcases, especially their wheels and bottoms, are germ magnets that can out-germ even a toilet,” Pointer said in a statement shared with T+L. “Yet, with basic hygiene steps, you can prevent these traveling microbes from joining you in bed or on the dinner table.”

Pointer was able to identify a range of bacteria grown from the swabs taken on the luggage, including Staphylococcus, which the study explained are common on human skin but could “get into cuts, can cause boils or impetigo (a highly contagious skin infection), and some strains (like S. aureus) even trigger food poisoning.” She also spotted Serratia, which is usually harmless, but could “opportunistically cause urinary or wound infections in hospital settings,” along with Bacillus, a bacterium well-known to cause foodborne illness.

As for the wheels themselves, each swab found hundreds of bacterial and fungal colonies, making it critical that you never, ever put your suitcase on a hotel bed again.

The next dirtiest spot was the base of the bag (where the Bacillus spores were found). Pointer warned soft-shell cases can harbor extra fungal growth compared to hard-shell luggage since fabric absorbs moisture more readily than plastic.

Last up was the suitcase handle, which Pointer said was the likeliest spot for Staphylococcus. 

But Pointer doesn’t want you to live in fear. Instead, she offered some helpful advice on how to avoid these germs, including storing your bags on a luggage rack, avoiding rolling your luggage into toilet stalls or through puddles when possible, washing your hands after touching your bags, and giving your suitcase a good wipe when you get home.

“The less gunk your wheels pick up, the less you’ll have to worry about later,” Pointer said, adding travelers should “Treat your hands as if you just touched those surfaces, because indirectly, you did.”

See the full findings and more sage advice from Pointer at insureandgo.com.