Taking Showers Can Be Harmful To Your Health 431
TheClockworkSoul writes "According to both the BBC and NewScientist, showering may be bad for your health. Apparently, dirty shower heads can be an ideal breeding ground for Mycobacterium avium, a bug responsible for a type of pulmonary disease more prevalent than tuberculosis in developed countries, cases of which have risen in parallel with the rise in showering. Tests revealed nearly a third of devices harbor significant levels of the critter."
Gentlemen, start your start-ups (Score:3, Insightful)
Creation of showerhead disinfection industry in 3...2...1...
Nothing to see here, move along... (Score:5, Insightful)
Germs are EVERYWHERE. Hospitals do all kinds of disinfection that you wouldn't and couldn't do in your own home, and people still get staph infections.
Re:hmmm (Score:5, Insightful)
From the (somewhat incomplete) information in TFA, I think you're right that running the water before stepping in helps. Not sure about whether the fact you're taking a shower at the time matters, as the concern is inhaled bacteria.
It also seems that metal shower heads are not as bad as plastic.
Oh, and the bacteria in question are opportunistic - healthy people rarely get sick from them. So maybe it makes sense to give small children more baths than showers (which is what my family always did when I was growing up anyway); to consider taking baths when sick; and to consider what this implies for care of the elderly.
Other than that, this just seems a bit over-hyped. (Not seeing what the comparison to TB adds to the story beyond sensationalism, for example.)
Bad water... (Score:1, Insightful)
The poster presented this as true everywhere, at least deceptively implied it is so. The reality is this is only going to be true where the water isn't properly sanitized, in the US the clean water act requires cities, counties and water authorities to insure the water is properly sanitized before delivery. Most US systems are designed to have residual chlorine all the way to delivery (if you are worried about it let the water sit for 5 min before you drink it and the minimal chlorine will leach out of the water, or you can have an in home filtration system that will strip the chlorine before delivery to the drinking taps).
The only place this bacteria could grow in shower heads would be countries that don't require that the potable water be properly sterilized at delivery. That doesn't include the US and I doubt it includes any European country or Japan or any developed country for that mater that has clean water rules.
Re:does CLR kill it? (Score:3, Insightful)
Dear Slashdotters (Score:5, Insightful)
This article does NOT mean you have an excuse to cease bathing.
This article also does not provide justification for the cessation of: tooth brushing, hair cutting, shaving, fingernail clipping, or deodorant usage.
Regards,
Society
Suprisingly light on details for the BBC (Score:5, Insightful)
I have so many questions that this article doesn't answer.
1) Where was the sample taken? UK showers? World wide? Third world countries?
2) Is there an information on different kinds of shower heads? for example, is this more common on massaging heads, low flow/high pressure heads, etc?
3) Does hot water kill this bacteria? Is it more common for people who take colder showers than people who take hot ones?
4) I always start the shower first before getting under it, since it takes about 5+ seconds to warm up... any ideas if this affects infection? (Thats more of a study question than a question from the article).
5) Any real way to prevent the growth? Someone already asked if CLR kills it. If this is so common, mind telling me how I can help myself?
I've never read a BBC article that left me with more questions.
Re:Sensationalism (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Nothing to see here, move along... (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not because the hospitals are sterilizing. It's because people keep using antibiotics for things that are unnecessary that selects for antibiotic resistant bacteria such as MRSA. If and when vancomycin resistant Staph. becomes prevalent (I'm aware of 3 documented cases so far), we're in deep shit.
Re:Nothing to see here, move along... (Score:3, Insightful)
"hospitals put so much effort into sterilizing every little thing."
Well if they stop doing that, how can they justify $50 bedpans, $50 toothbrushes, $50 puke buckets, and so forth? If it's just something you can pick up at the dollar store, then insurance companies will insist that is where the hospitals source them from.
It's far more profitable to go through the motions and appear to be safe, even though we're making humanity more fragile and the germs stronger in the process.
And another thing (related): why do some people go to the hospital for every little sniffle or tummy ache or other trivial illness (like a mild flu such as the H1N1 virus) and insist on antibiotics? Getting sick actually makes the immune system stronger over the long term (along with eating well, getting exercise, etc) because the body builds up more varied and versatile antibodies. If we keep shielding ourselves from colds, the flu, etc. eventually there will be a black plague-like outbreak because our immune systems won't "know" how to fight off infections.
Kitchen Faucet (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Sensationalism (Score:5, Insightful)
I seriously don't think there's any amount of filth and nasty that can ever approach my keyboard... except maybe my mouse.
Re:Now what? (Score:3, Insightful)
If I took your advice, and my wife found out, my condition would be pretty far from "healthy"
Re:CU Boulder (Score:2, Insightful)
ad hominem
Re:does CLR kill it? (Score:1, Insightful)
I just unscrew the shower head once a month and clean it out. It takes about two minutes of effort and about five minutes of waiting.
It's something to do while you're waiting for X to unfreeze.
Re:does CLR kill it? (Score:5, Insightful)
And when you DO unscrew the shower head you will find......
NOTHING!
Because this story is largely BULL. You can stick a swab just about anywhere and find SOMETHING to sensationalize.
But having done more than my share of plumbing I can tell you shower heads are as clean on the inside the day you replace them as they were the day you installed them.
You might find calcium deposits. But then thats also in your tap where you get water to drink or cook.
Could you possibly find some bacteria? Probably, especially if you live where water is not chlorinated.
But is there enough to make you sick?
Well lets think about that for a second: If this bacteria could be washed out of the shower head onto you, then simply running the shower for a minute before you step in would solve the problem.
And, don't we all do this anyway?
Tempest. Teapot.