Scientists find 'never-before-seen viruses' in your toothbrushes and shower heads
Scientists at one of the world's leading universities have found 'never-before-seen' viruses in our toothbrushes and shower heads, but fret not: it might actually be a good thing.
The eye-opening discovery was made by a research team at Northwestern University in Illinois, USA.
Microbiologists found that our toothbrushes and shower heads are absolutely packed with a range of viruses.
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And the vast majority of these viruses have never before been seen by scientists in what is a stunning find for research.
Rest assured, though. While the idea of finding viruses on your toothbrush or shower head sounds grim, these aren't going to harm you.
In fact, it's more the opposite, with the viruses targeting bacteria itself.
It's a little bit technical, with the micro-organisms collected in the study called bacteriophage, or 'phage'. These are viruses that infect and replicate inside of bacteria.
Although researchers know little about them, phage have recently garnered attention for their potential use in treating antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections. And the previously-unknown viruses lurking in our bathrooms could become a treasure trove of materials for exploring those applications.
The study was published Wednesday (9 October) in the journal Frontiers in Microbiomes.
Northwestern’s Erica M. Hartmann, who led the study, said: “The number of viruses that we found is absolutely wild.
“We found many viruses that we know very little about and many others that we have never seen before.
"It’s amazing how much untapped biodiversity is all around us. And you don’t even have to go far to find it; it’s right under our noses."
The new study builds on previous research, in which Hartmann and her colleagues at University of Colorado Boulder studied bacteria living on toothbrushes and shower heads. For those studies, the team asked people to submit used toothbrushes and swabs with samples collected from their shower heads.
Inspired by worries that a flushing toilet might generate a cloud of aerosol particles which were then dispersed around the bathroom, Hartmann fondly named the study 'Operation Pottymouth'.
“This project started as a curiosity,” Hartmann said. “We wanted to know what microbes are living in our homes.
"If you think about indoor environments, surfaces like tables and walls are really difficult for microbes to live on. Microbes prefer environments with water. And where is there water? Inside our shower heads and on our toothbrushes.”
More than 600 different viruses were found during the research, with no two samples showing similarities.
“We saw basically no overlap in virus types between showerheads and toothbrushes,” Hartmann said. “We also saw very little overlap between any two samples at all. Each showerhead and each toothbrush is like its own little island. It just underscores the incredible diversity of viruses out there.”
On falling ill from the viruses, Hartmann urges calm, saying: "Microbes are everywhere, and the vast majority of them will not make us sick.
"The more you attack them with disinfectants, the more they are likely to develop resistance or become more difficult to treat. We should all just embrace them."
Topics: Science, Health, Education, World News, US News, Environment
Tom Earnshaw