London, Aug 3 - People with pets have the filthiest kitchen floors, according to a study.

A house with a dog or a cat will typically have bacteria levels almost 20 times higher than one without. That's dirtier than an average pub toilet seat, reports express.co.uk.

Surprisingly, having children in a house - however messy - makes only a negligible difference.

Microbiologists at Leeds Metropolitan University swabbed sample areas from kitchen floors and measured bacteria levels.

A couple with no children scored 167 in the study and a couple with children scored 232. But a couple with children and pets scored 2,844.

Bacteria levels in homes with pets were even higher than for a student house.

'This was especially marked in the cases of the married couple with children and pets, where there was a 10,000-fold reduction in bacterial contamination after using a clean mop,' said Alan Edmondson.

IANS