Riyadh: The dirtiest parts of Saudi Arabian homes are filthier than the global average, a study has found.
The Hygiene Council on Tuesday unveiled its international Hygiene Home Truths Study 2010 at the council's fifth annual meeting in Riyadh, which was attended by Gulf News.
The study was organised and supported by the Dettol company, which manufactures home cleaning products.
Contamination
The study reported that bathroom seals, the insides of fridges and kettle handles were among the most highly contaminated spots in homes worldwide.
And in Saudi Arabian homes, 90 per cent of bathroom seals and fridge interiors tested were found to be unsatisfactory or heavily contaminated above the global average, the study reported.
This was despite the fact that 37 per cent of the samples checked appeared to be clean.
The reasons for this were ineffective cleaning, the study said.
Council members said the news had come as a shock, particularly when 90 per cent of householders surveyed said they cleaned their fridges once a week and 80 per cent of them said they cleaned their bathtubs daily.
Nine countries
The study was reportedly carried out in nine countries around the world including Saudi Arabia and other Arab Gulf countries.
Professor John Oxford, chairman of the Hygiene Council and professor of virology said although surfaces could often appear clean to the naked eye, it was important that people understood that mould spores in areas such as bathroom seals could have a detrimental effect on their health.
Precautions
"This means that precautions need to be taken to reduce mould spores just as with other bacteria they might be aware of," he said.
The study explained that it was not necessarily how frequently cleaning took place that mattered but that particular areas were cleaned the right way.
The inside of fridges came second to bathroom seals in the contaminated hygiene hotspots stakes with nearly half (46 per cent) of the households tested failing bacterial contamination tests and more than two thirds of homes showing mould build-up.
The study also said fridge temperatures were not satisfactory in many instances, which could allow bacteria to grow to high numbers.
