Upstream | September 14, 2009 | 40 comments

Showerheads Loaded With Bacteria?

source: http://www.livescience.com/health/090914-showerhead-bacterial.html

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DeliaTheArtist
"Your showerhead may deliver more than a refreshing spray of water. New research suggests disease-causing bacteria hide out inside showerheads, hitching a ride to your face and body inside water droplets.

The grimy results come from genetic tests run on samples from 45 showerheads in homes, apartment buildings and public places from nine U.S. cities in five states: New York, Illinois, Colorado, Tennessee and North Dakota.

About 20 percent of the showerhead swabs harbored significant levels of Mycobacterium avium, bacteria linked to pulmonary disease that most often infects people with compromised immune systems, said lead researcher Norman Pace of the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Pace and colleagues found that M. avium and related pathogens were clumped together in slimy biofilms that coated the insides of the showerheads at more than 100 times the levels found in municipal waters that are the origins for the showers' water.

Once the pathogen-laden water spurts from showerheads, the bugs can suspend in the air where showering individuals can easily inhale them into the deepest parts of the lungs, Pace said.

For those with immune-compromised systems, Pace recommends changing out your showerhead regularly. Sufficiently cleaning showerheads may prove difficult as they are full of hard-to-reach nooks and crannies. While chlorine-bleach products may remove some bacteria, mycobacteria are resistant to chlorine. He added that microbes attach more easily to plastics, so an all-metal showerhead might be a good investment for the immune-compromised.

At the end of the day, Pace doesn't recommend steering clear of the shower. "It's like anything else — there is a risk associated with it," Pace said"
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40 comments // Showerheads Loaded With Bacteria?

  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  

    • Hmm. Looks like a good day for a meteor shower too. No, wait, oh rats. The space junk will probably ruin it. What, I mean WHAT, is th' World coming to? When ya want a shower you can't have one, and when you want a shower somebody rains all over it.

    • 2 years ago
  • bailey78
    • 0
      bailey78  

    • Oh goddamn folks If your going to die your going to die no two ways about it if you worrry about every thing that is going to hurt you. you will give yourself an ulser. do what you can to make sure you live a half way decent life and hope for the best thats all you can do. Nobody and I meen nobody makes it out alive. thats life short and sweet. Make the best of today because you may be looking up at dirt tomarrow.

    • 2 years ago
  • dtringas
  • Gravity_Man
  • sickinjersey
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  

    • White People:

      If you step into the shower and come out a Black...

      Black People:

      If you step in the shower and come out a White Caucasian...

      Step back in the shower to reverse the effect, then find another way to shower.

    • 2 years ago
  • sickinjersey
  • pandaman2105
    • 0
      pandaman2105  

    • doesn't surprise me, but all i know is that im still gonna shower.

      i like feeling fresh and clean :)

      fuck some germs
      you feel good and if you don't feel sick or get sick, WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL???

    • 2 years ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  

    • Just make sure the batteries work in your Geiger counter when ya buy your next showerhead and we'll have ya around a bit longer. Then slap it with a big magnet.

    • 2 years ago
  • NuclearLullaby
    • 0
      NuclearLullaby  

    • I think this might have just given future terrorist of the world a new plan,but I'd better not explain details or they just up & do something! We ALL know though that life is the leading cause of death,so don't fear the water just yet!

    • 2 years ago
  • Jjjjason7
    • 0
      Jjjjason7  

    • This does not have to do with the germs but I keep a magnet in my paint water and it attracts all the metal in the paint and keeps my water cleaner longer. I wonder if you put a magnet or two (strong ones no fridge magnets) could you remove the iron/ stains?

    • 2 years ago
  • Ogaal
  • zwan008
  • TabulaRasa
  • SPECIALIST
  • brandonthebuck
  • MilchMann
    • 0
      MilchMann  

    • SWINE FLU... OH NOOOOOOOO

      Come on, who went to the beach this summer?

      People are so GD ridiculous...

      Why is this the top news story? I feel cheated.

    • 2 years ago
  • neonbunny
    • 0
      neonbunny  

    • There are disease causing bacteria everywhere (on your skin and under your teeth for example), that's why evolution invented macrophages and antibiotics...

    • 2 years ago
  • hunzedog
  • quanta
    • 0
      quanta  

    • showers and shower heads need cleaning too. Unscrew it and dumd it in a bleach solution to kill bacteria and THEN dump it in a descaler like limeaway to rid it off mineral deposit build up. I'm surprised they haven't made one for people to shower with yet . and ya, our systems, bodies have built up anti bacteria fighting thingamagigies so we drink the same water with few bad results and don't forget to take your toothbrush to the shower head after the descaler bath.

    • 2 years ago
  • bc_f
    • bc_f [removed]  
    • This comment was removed as a violation of community guidelines.
  • NeutronActivation
    • 0
      NeutronActivation  
    • bc_f:

      You're right not all bacteria are dangerous as a matter of fact many are beneficial but not all bacteria are made the same. Legionella pneumophila isn't one of the good bugs and they can grow in water heaters that aren't heated to 140 degrees F every once and a while. This is far from hand sanitizer paranoia it is a well known situation acknowledged by most certified plumbers.

      If you're not worried about bacteria why not wipe your butt with your bare hand and save a tree?

    • 2 years ago
  • thewallisgirl
  • NeutronActivation
    • 0
      NeutronActivation  

    • This mostly stems from your hot water heater it is a near perfect culturing vessel for various water borne nasties. Some bacteria can also cause smelly water "Rotten egg" odors from hydrogen sulfide are sometimes only present in hot water. This may indicate a reaction with the magnesium rod in the water heater. Consider either removal or replacement with an aluminum rod as a remedy. Sometimes hot water will have a "sour" smell, similar to the smell of an old damp rag. This happens when, in an effort to save energy or to avoid blending hot and cold water, the thermostat of the water heater is lowered.

      Odor-causing bacteria live and thrive in warm water and can infest the water heater. This is corrected by returning the thermostat to its recommended temperature, because the odor-causing bacteria are killed at the higher water temperature (at or above 140 degrees). Caution: Be sure the water heater has an operable pressure relief valve before increasing the water temperature. If you want to keep your water heater temperature at a lower setting because scalding from hot water is a concern, each time the odor returns, increase the water temperature for a few hours to kill the odor-causing bacteria. Then flush the very hot water out of the tank and lower the temperature back to the desired level. .

      Presence of Thermophilic Bacteria in Laundry
      and Domestic Hot-Water Heaters

      http://aem.asm.org/cgi/reprint/25/1/72.pdf

      Water heater and Legionella bacteria advisory

      http://blog.mlive.com/home_improvement/2007/09/water_heater_and_legionella_ba.ht...

    • 2 years ago
  • ampersand
  • MilchMann
    • 0
      MilchMann  
    • NeutronActivation:

      haha... I may be one of the only people on here that does not care if there are germs in the shower head... and I also do not have a water heater... in fact I get kind of ticked off in the summer when my showers are 70-80 degrees... that is funny.

    • 2 years ago
  • Gravity_Man
  • EtVoila
    • 0
      EtVoila  

    • I will not go on a paranoia-induced germ killing spree, I will not go on a paranoia-induced germ killing spree, I will not go on a paranoia-induced germ killing spree...

    • 2 years ago
  • think_free
  • randallr01
  • bombastinator
    • 0
      bombastinator  

    • I wonder why this is happening? the only difference between shower head water and water main water is that the shower water is more aerated and has bee through the water heater. i suppose someone worried about it could simply unscrew their shower head when not in use and toss in some cleaner occasionally.

      Good to know though.

    • 2 years ago
  • ampersand
    • 0
      ampersand  

    • Yeah, it may just be me , but when I see Survivorman drink out of a mud puddle in the east Africa savanna, I immediately go change the filters on my R.O. system.

    • 2 years ago
  • Hypo_Mix
  • outtheinside
  • EdJoyProductions
  • SwiperNoSwiping
    • 0
      SwiperNoSwiping  
    • Hypo_Mix:

      hand sanitizer is more like an open wound detection kit. it will burn all your cuts, but the germs will still be there anyway. the liquid alcohol crap just kills some of them, and moves it around your hands.

    • 2 years ago
  • jh64487
    • 0
      jh64487  
    • Hypo_Mix:

      not so, liquid hand sanetizer is perfectly effective. it just doesn't cover everything as effectively as a thorough washing of your hands.

      people use a little dime size amount of hand sanitizer and try to spread that all over and it doesn't work.

      ...unless your talking about yoru hands literally being covered in dirt in which case youre correct

    • 2 years ago
  • donnyin3d
  • jeffissleeping
  • ampersand
    • 0
      ampersand  

    • Jeez, Delia, you're scaring the carp out'a me!
      OK, so I have heard we are exposed to a lot of toxic stuff in the shower--but I thought it was the chemical feast in the shampoos and cream rinses; and that, because of the bacteria on our skin, we are technically most dirty right AFTER a shower, but please don't make me toss my tre costly Grohe shower heads!
      Ah, well, time to get to work on that ultra-violet, salt-spray and air-dry shower compartment.

    • 2 years ago
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