Slimy showerhead gonna make you sick?

[astral]

Golly gee, I knew I hated showers for a reason!

Nearly a third of shower heads harbour potentially dangerous bacteria to be sprayed over their owners, a study has found.
_____________________________________
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1213536/How-clean-shower-head-The-peril-lurking-cubicle-bad-health.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1213536/How-clean-shower-head-The-peril-lurking-cubicle-bad-health.html">How Clean is your Shower Head?

[glowing]

1. I clean my showerhead.. Doesn't everyone?

[PDJane]

2. Apparently not..........

And yes, I do too.

[Skittles]

3. good lord - um, some of us actually clean the shower

INCLUDING the shower heard - get a grip

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Oh, goody. I'd almost run out of things to worry about.

I needed some new material. I'll just throw it in the pile along with

dust mites
radon gas
Republicans
swine flu
bird flu
global warming
peak oil
bedbugs
cat fleas
mold in the basement
vanishing 401K
leaking roof
asteroids
cosmic rays
ozone layer depletion
unexplained rashes
buckthorn
salmonella

and now there's shower head slime.

:scared:

[azmouse]

6. You left out second hand smoke.

:hi:
I'm sure there are few others but I'm gonna go hide under the bed now.

[Wickerman]

11. so, you're leaving out high tension wires?

[elocs]

5. Well, life has risks and they can be found in endless places if you search hard enough.

It just goes to show it's always something, and then something after that, and something after that...

[NYC_SKP]

7. OCD clean freaks are more susceptible to microbial infections...

No antibodies, no resistance.

More exposure to icky makes us more resistant to icky.

So say I, NYC_SKP, MD.

:P

[azmouse]

8. Or you could say...

That which does't kill us only makes us stronger. :)

[madeline_con]

9. Or these owners could clean them. DUH. n/t

[Ian David]

10. If you shove the shower head in your ass, clean it when you're done. n/t

[n2doc]

12. Daily Bathroom Showers May Deliver Face Full Of Pathogens, Says Study

ScienceDaily (Sep. 15, 2009) — While daily bathroom showers provide invigorating relief and a good cleansing for millions of Americans, they also can deliver a face full of potentially pathogenic bacteria, according to a surprising new University of Colorado at Boulder

The researchers used high-tech instruments and lab methods to analyze roughly 50 showerheads from nine cities in seven states that included New York City, Chicago and Denver. They concluded about 30 percent of the devices harbored significant levels of Mycobacterium avium, a pathogen linked to pulmonary disease that most often infects people with compromised immune systems but which can occasionally infect healthy people, said CU-Boulder Distinguished Professor Norman Pace, lead study author.

It's not surprising to find pathogens in municipal waters, said Pace. But the CU-Boulder researchers found that some M. avium and related pathogens were clumped together in slimy "biofilms" that clung to the inside of showerheads at more than 100 times the "background" levels of municipal water. "If you are getting a face full of water when you first turn your shower on, that means you are probably getting a particularly high load of Mycobacterium avium, which may not be too healthy," he said.

The study appeared in the Sept. 14 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Co-authors of the study included CU-Boulder researchers Leah Feazel, Laura Baumgartner, Kristen Peterson and Daniel Frank and University Colorado Denver pediatrics department Associate Professor Kirk Harris. The study is part of a larger effort by Pace and his colleagues to assess the microbiology of indoor environments and was supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

more:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090914151621.htm

[GreenPartyVoter]

13. Glad I take baths with well water, then.

[imdjh]

14. Not me, I use a hand shower and my face isn't its first target.

[Ian David]

15. My mother-in-law is safe then. n/t

[RaleighNCDUer]

16. In the old apartment building I live in I just assume there is crap in

the water lines - I always let the water run a little before stepping into the shower or filling the kool-aid pitcher to give it a chance to clear.

[Ian David]

17. The problem isn't so much the water. It's the shower head.

Especially the plastic ones, according to the article.

The inside of the shower head forms a biofilm where the bacteria multiply to dangerous levels.

If Billy Mays were alive, he'd sell us something to fix this.

[RaleighNCDUer]

19. Same result, though. Anything that is going to be dislodged from the

showerhead will probably come out in the first 30 seconds before I step in. Of course the shower head and the faucet nozzle are the likeliest places for gunk to accumulate, where outside air contacts a wet surface. I don't have any paranoia about the water in general - I refuse to buy bottled water and drink from the tap all the time, after letting it run for a couple.

[SPedigrees]

22. Ditto here. Been drinking tap water all my life.

Showerheads and bathroom surfaces can all use a good bath in bleach periodically though.

[Why Syzygy]

18. This report was posted two days ago...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=222x69385

[enid602]

20. m a

My Mom was unlucky enough to contract mycrobacterium avium in 1980. She had to go the the Jewish Hospital in Denver, the only one in the US at the time that offered treatment. She said there were only 7 people in the US who had the disease at the time. I don´t think that your chances of contracting microbacterium avium go up significantly by taking showers. Mom died a couple years ago after an unrelated ilmess. Of her ´class´of 1980, only 3 people were still alive after 5 years.

[SPedigrees]

21. It's a good idea to soak one's showerheads in chlorine bleach

every month or so.

[pansypoo53219]

23. BUY MORE SHOWER HEADS.

marketing thru scare tactics, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger.