You won’t believe how dirty the inside of shower heads can get.
In fact, there is a very real possibility that your shower head might even be making you sick, reports Inside Edition. They decided to do some lab testing in eleven different families’ bathrooms and what they found was shocking.
First, they unscrewed the shower heads and swabbed the inside of the pipes to collect whatever bacteria might be lurking within.
Then they sent the swabs off to a professional lab to be analyzed.
Top microbiologist Joseph Falkinham from Virginia Tech University oversaw the testing.
When the results came back, everyone cringed. No families’ shower heads were immune from the problem!
Inside Edition reporter Diane McInerney shared the results from the analysis of mother Renee Diaz’s shower head with her on camera to see her reaction.
Diaz has two young daughters and lives in Manhattan, New York.
“Here’s what we found… fungus on the shower head, and that wasn’t the worst of it,” McInerney told her.
“We also found it loaded with bacteria called mycobacterium that can cause lung infections.”
Diaz couldn’t believe it. Especially once she realized her kids are being exposed to the dangerous bacteria literally every single day.
Over 190 species of bacteria fall within the Mycobacterium genus, and many of them can cause serious issues.
According to Wikipedia, the genus “includes pathogens known to cause serious diseases in mammals, including tuberculosis and leprosy in humans.” It is quite scary to think about. Unfortunately, other families didn’t fare much better than Diaz.
Falkinham expressed his concern. This was his response when asked if he was surprised by what he found:
“Yes, I was. There are some very high numbers that worry me,” Falkinham said.
After learning about the facts, all the families wanted to know what they could do to combat the issue.
Luckily, according to Falkinham, there is a simple solution. Soak your shower head in undiluted bleach once a month for 30 minutes.
The bleach will kill all that gross bacteria that has a tendency to build up over time. Just make sure to thoroughly rinse the shower head off afterward before using it again.
“If you do that once a month, the number of mycobacteria are very low,” Falkinham explained.
Many people never think about sterilizing the shower heads in their home, but it is an important regular cleaning task that should not be ignored.
Failure to do so could cause big issues. While it is likely you can go on for a long time without experiencing any major health problems, eventually, your luck may run out, and if so, you are in for a lot of pain.
Mycobacterium is nothing to laugh at! However, with a little effort and a regular monthly cleaning routine, you can basically make it a non-issue.
About 30,000 Americans are diagnosed with mycobacterial infections every year.
Watch the full video of the Inside Edition shower head and mycobacterium report below.
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