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.
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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.
I sometimes watch 'Mythbusters' on Discovery, and they went into the "if you leave your toothbrush in the bathroom, it'll get such and such microbes/etc. on it". Well, everywhere in the bathroom and outside of the bathroom had some kind of bacteria on it, regardless of where you place this or that item.
I've known people who try to keep their house completly disinfected, etc. (not Howard Hughes obsessive, but somewhat close) and I figure they are doing more harm than good over the long term. Their bodies won't be able to handle the kind of stuff most of us are exposed to. George Carlin had some special on TV where he joked about swimming in the sewers when he was a kid and that is why his immune system is so strong.
So remember, kids, don't dry your open bleeding wounds with a plastic shower curtain.
And NEVER NEVER eat a shower curtain unless it is fully cooked...
Jeez, life is hard in the 21st century.
But back to toothbrushes left exposed in bathrooms. The old fashioned kind, exposed, hanging on the wall, or electric brushes and Sonicares without their protective caps. Forget airborne fecal matter from flushes. You got a cat that jumps up on bathroom countertops? What I saw my cat doing to my uncovered Sonicare, yuck!
I agree with you.............and it seems to me that the children of these people are sick more often than not.
While I realize cleanliness is next to godliness - there is a point where it does get out of hand.
SHOWER CURTAINS CONTAIN BACTERIA. WOMEN, MINORITIES HARDEST HIT.
Ever read the labels to your household products that say "anti-bacterial"? They contain triclosan and other anti-biotics.
How much have we been told over the past 20 years about the over use of anti-biotics and the reason why?
I gave up the anti-bac soaps.
What these well-intentioned but misled folks don't realize is that everything is crawling with flora but that there are more "good" bacteria than "bad". What you do when you overuse disinfectants and antibacterials is to wipe out the good with the bad. Think of it like your lawn. As long as the grass has a chance to thrive it will keep the weeds to a minimum. Kill the grass, and what do you have?
By a clean freak's standards I live in a hovel, because I rarely if ever use anything but soap and water (no antibacs) to clean anything including my bathroom. However, my kids are robustly healthy, and in the rare instance one of us gets sick, it doesn't usually spread to the rest of the family.
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