Our shower could be a source of important respiratory diseases

When we take a bath, we hope to finish completely clean. However, this is virtually impossible because the environment is filled with microorganisms. Under this premise, a team of researchers decided to badyze the microbial communities housed in shower heads commonly used in homes, in addition to those that settle in the pipes.

After discovering this, it was discovered that our showers are equipped with showers. microbial communities that can cause disease; however, this depends on the water treatment methods used in different communities.

Many bacterial communities can be housed in our shower

to badyze the existence of a microbial life in plumbing and in the building. Showerhead, a team of researchers from the University of Colorado, has taken samples from various households, both in Europe and in the United States.

To this end, particular attention was paid to the microbes of the genus Mycobacterium, a type of bacteria that can cause leprosy and tuberculosis. In addition, the genus Mycobacterium is related to 200 other types of bacteria that can be housed in any environment, especially in soil, dust and running water; These are known as non-tuberculous mycobacteria.

An interesting aspect of this type of bacteria is that they grow in mold-like colonies, which is why they are revealing fungi. This implies that non-tuberculous mycobacteria can be quite common in bathrooms, sinks and showers. In general, these bacteria are harmless to humans, but they can cause lung infections.

Therefore, to determine their home presence, the researchers badyzed the DNA present in 656 biofilm samples from domestic showers; In addition, baseline data on household water chemistry were taken into account. In this way, it has been discovered that our showers are an excellent source of non-tuberculous mycobacteria.

Taking a shower may end up making us sick

After performing the badysis, it was observed that the genus Mycobacterium was extremely common inside the pommels of domestic shower. However, differences were found depending on the place of origin of the samples studied. In particular, mycobacteria have been more common in US households than in European households

. In this regard, the researchers suggest that this is due to the different ways of treating the water to purify it. in the United States, chlorine is usually used for this purpose, but mycobacteria resist this substance

In addition, it was observed that residences that used water from a tank contained less of bacteria that showers receiving water. directly from municipal depots; in the same vein, metal showerheads had a higher proportion of mycobacteria than plastic heads; However, in the latter case, the communities were more diverse, which is related to the chemicals present in this material.

Finally, the researchers found that, in the United States, mycobacterial lung infections were more common. Frequent, as in Florida and New York, the heads of domestic showers usually have a larger amount of these microbes.

Nevertheless, it is necessary to take into account the fact that it is a correlational survey in order to establish causal relations. they require more research. For now, scientists have been working to discover the causes of the presence or absence of these bacteria in our homes and their effects on human health.

Reference: Ecological Analyzes of Mycobacteria in Showerhead Biofilms and their Relevance to Human Health, (2018). https://www.doi.org/10.1128/mBio.01614-18