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Biohazard lurks in bathrooms: Shower curtains awash with potentially harmful bacteria
Nature News Service ^ | February 16, 2004 | PETER ALDHOUS

Posted on 02/16/2004 5:32:38 AM PST by sarcasm

If you don't scrub your shower curtain, you're asking for trouble. These plastic sheets are flooded with bacteria that can cause nasty infections says Norman Pace, a microbiologist at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Pace has long been interested in the microbial communities that live all around us, and one day decided to examine the soapy film that covered his shower curtain. "I scraped a little bit of soap scum, put it under the microscope and went: 'Wooah!'" he says. The sample teemed with bacterial life.

To find out whether the bugs were harmless or not, Pace enlisted an undergraduate student, Ulrike Theissen. She collected scum from five shower curtains: Pace's own, three more from colleagues at Boulder, and one from Berkeley, California.

The bugs' DNA showed that around 80% belonged to one of two groups: the sphingomonads and the methylobacteria. Both contain species that are opportunistic pathogens, able to infect wounds or sicken people whose immune systems are suppressed. These include the elderly, or those taking drugs to combat the rejection of transplanted organs.

Each time you take a shower you are engulfed by an aerosol of bacteria, Pace told the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Seattle. In most cases, that will not be dangerous. But if you have an unprotected cut, or your immune system is suppressed, it could be a different story.

The bacteria probably feed on volatile organic chemicals shed from human bodies, says Pace, rather than on soap. "When you cough, belch or fart, you're putting a lot of organic chemistry in there," he says. Chemicals called plasticizers, which make shower curtains more flexible, could also feed bacteria, he suggests.

When you cough, belch or fart, you're putting a lot of organic chemistry in there
Norman Pace
University of Colorado

Pace's findings have caused a change in his personal habits: "I take showers, but since the study, I wash my shower curtain every few weeks."

Shower curtains may not be the biggest hazard we encounter while bathing. Other studies have found that the air just above water level in a typical Jacuzzi, or hot tub, is packed with bacteria that can cause lung infections.

"I would not get into a public hot tub. I would not get into a private hot tub, frankly," says Pace.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bleach; health
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1 posted on 02/16/2004 5:32:39 AM PST by sarcasm
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To: sarcasm
Well, that's it. No more showers for me. Meanwhile, who can I sue over this outrage?
2 posted on 02/16/2004 5:34:49 AM PST by Fresh Wind (Who would a terrorist vote for?)
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To: Fresh Wind
"Ve were ze first to stop showering. N'est pas"?


3 posted on 02/16/2004 5:37:51 AM PST by Diogenesis (If you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us)
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To: sarcasm
Well, DAMN! The only reason I take showers is because I don't like to take a bath....I don't like to wash my face in the same water I've been sitting in.....
4 posted on 02/16/2004 5:38:28 AM PST by dirtbiker (Solution for Terrorism: Nuke 'em 'till they glow, then shoot 'em in the dark!)
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To: sarcasm
Nearly 40 years later and im still alive. Personally i think humans are growing weaker due to overmedicating and over antibioticizing ourselves.

As a kid i missed a great many of the usual childhood vaccines due to an illness but i grew into a healthy adult who gets sick only once every 4 or 5 years.
5 posted on 02/16/2004 5:38:42 AM PST by cripplecreek (you win wars by making the other dumb SOB die for his country)
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To: sarcasm
Good Grief it took a study to realize this? Didn't their mothers teach them basic housecleaning skills? Throw the damn thing in the washer once a month or spray it down with bleach water after each use.
6 posted on 02/16/2004 5:39:22 AM PST by boxerblues (If you can read this.. Thank a Teacher..If you can read this in English ..Thank a US Soldier)
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To: sarcasm
I just hope I don't catch "sepsis" from the shower curtains.....then I would die...
7 posted on 02/16/2004 5:39:29 AM PST by cherry
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To: cripplecreek
Same here, I grew up on a farm, and I always had a cut or scrape on my body somewhere.......and I got the scars to prove it (along with 2 mutilated fingers!)

BTW, my mom grew up in a section of our county called Cripple Creek......

8 posted on 02/16/2004 5:42:10 AM PST by dirtbiker (Solution for Terrorism: Nuke 'em 'till they glow, then shoot 'em in the dark!)
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To: boxerblues
"Good Grief it took a study to realize this? Didn't their mothers teach them basic housecleaning skills?"

It's not their mother's fault. George Bush and his tax cuts for the rich have removed any chance of funding a government program to solve this insidious problem.
9 posted on 02/16/2004 5:44:10 AM PST by DugwayDuke
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To: Fresh Wind
The guy's name is Norman and he uses the term "fart" instead of flatulence.

Sounds credible to me...
10 posted on 02/16/2004 5:46:10 AM PST by TSgt (I am proudly featured on U.S. Rep Rob Portman's homepage: http://www.house.gov/portman/)
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To: cripplecreek
I think you are right on.
When I was a kid we swam in the Hudson river just off the ferry dock at 125th street.
After a dive while coming to the surface of the water we had to wave our arms wildly to drive off the stuff floating on the surface of the water.
Years later I found out that was the lowest point in the area and the place where all the Raw Sewage was emptied into the River.
I must have had a great immune system.
At that spot they have eracted the biggest Sewer plant I've ever seen.
11 posted on 02/16/2004 5:47:26 AM PST by chatham
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To: boxerblues
Didn't their mothers teach them basic housecleaning skills?

Probably not. Their mothers taught them where the free clinics were, that nature good, business bad, and conservatives are cruel and mean-spirited....Also, that you don't need to be married to have children, you don't even have to be the same sex, that men are evil, all sex is rape..............the list of stupidity is endless......

12 posted on 02/16/2004 5:47:30 AM PST by dirtbiker (Solution for Terrorism: Nuke 'em 'till they glow, then shoot 'em in the dark!)
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To: sarcasm
It's a wonder any of us are still standing.
13 posted on 02/16/2004 5:47:41 AM PST by hellinahandcart
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To: sarcasm
Proof positive liberal college profs, especially those from Berkeley, contaminate society.
14 posted on 02/16/2004 5:48:46 AM PST by mtbopfuyn
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To: DugwayDuke
I think you have it backwards, these undergraduate students who were born of hippie era parents can now thank GWB no child left behind program so that they can study all the failings and unhealthy lifestyle of their parents :)
15 posted on 02/16/2004 5:49:33 AM PST by boxerblues (If you can read this.. Thank a Teacher..If you can read this in English ..Thank a US Soldier)
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To: sarcasm
This sounds much like what I heard on television awhile back, a health segment, I think. A warning on how nasty the air in American bathrooms are. Toxic. We're talking toxic. So folks;

keep that toilet lid down when you flush.

And keep your toothbrush covered when you aren't using it.

16 posted on 02/16/2004 5:50:49 AM PST by YaYa123
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To: hellinahandcart
Because of this study, WE NEED UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE! WE ARE MERE SECONDS AWAY FROM A INFECTIOUS SHOWER CURTAIN EPIDEMIC, AND MILLIONS WITHOUT HEALTH CARE WILL DIE!!!

.... or something like that.....
17 posted on 02/16/2004 5:51:30 AM PST by dirtbiker (Solution for Terrorism: Nuke 'em 'till they glow, then shoot 'em in the dark!)
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To: chatham
Similar story here. Grew up just a few miles from the (then) horribly polluted Mississippi. We all got to be very good water skiers because you wanted to be able to choose WHERE you went back into the water!
18 posted on 02/16/2004 5:54:25 AM PST by CrazyIvan (Death before dishonor, open bar after 6:00)
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To: YaYa123
....especially if there is a toilet nearby....
19 posted on 02/16/2004 5:54:49 AM PST by dirtbiker (Solution for Terrorism: Nuke 'em 'till they glow, then shoot 'em in the dark!)
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To: sarcasm
Oh, give me a break-anyone who isn't a total pig just tosses the shower curtain in the washer with the whites every couple of weeks. With people running around with disinfectant and antibiotics in fear of even shower curtains, no wonder they keep getting sick all the time. Most of these folks can't possibly have an immune system left after all that sanitizing.
20 posted on 02/16/2004 5:57:33 AM PST by Texan5 (You've got to saddle up your boys, you've got to draw a hard line..)
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