diff --git a/src/ocrd_utils/logging.py b/src/ocrd_utils/logging.py
index 5cea55e5b..181805118 100644
--- a/src/ocrd_utils/logging.py
+++ b/src/ocrd_utils/logging.py
@@ -210,11 +210,13 @@ def disableLogging(silent=not config.OCRD_LOGGING_DEBUG):
     # logging.basicConfig(level=logging.CRITICAL)
     # logging.disable(logging.ERROR)
     # remove all handlers for the ocrd logger
-    for logger_name in ROOT_OCRD_LOGGERS:
+    for logger_name in ROOT_OCRD_LOGGERS + ['']:
         for handler in logging.getLogger(logger_name).handlers[:]:
             logging.getLogger(logger_name).removeHandler(handler)
     for logger_name in LOGGING_DEFAULTS:
         logging.getLogger(logger_name).setLevel(logging.NOTSET)
+    # Python default log level is WARNING
+    logging.root.setLevel(logging.WARNING)
 
 # Initializing stream handlers at module level
 # would cause message output in all runtime contexts,
diff --git a/tests/test_decorators.py b/tests/test_decorators.py
index 5ab288005..df8d6422b 100644
--- a/tests/test_decorators.py
+++ b/tests/test_decorators.py
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ def test_loglevel_override(self):
             pytest.skip(f"ocrd_logging.conf found at {get_logging_config_files()}, skipping logging test")
         import logging
         disableLogging()
+        assert logging.getLogger('').getEffectiveLevel() == logging.WARNING
         assert logging.getLogger('ocrd').getEffectiveLevel() == logging.WARNING
         initLogging()
         assert logging.getLogger('ocrd').getEffectiveLevel() == logging.INFO