In a revelation that's been dubbed 'absolutely wild', it turns out our toothbrushes and showerheads are teeming with viruses 'unlike anything we've seen before'. A groundbreaking study by Northwestern University in Illinois has uncovered the presence of bacteriophages in these common household items. After swabbing 92 showerheads and 36 toothbrushes, researchers stumbled upon these astonishing findings.
Given that viruses and bacteria thrive in moist environments, the discovery of these microorganisms on showerheads and toothbrushes didn't exactly shock the scientific community. “The number of viruses that we found is absolutely wild,” said Northwestern’s Erica M. Hartmann, who led the study, which was published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiomes.
“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.
” “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 showerheads and on our toothbrushes.” The study went further to disclose that bacterial levels on showerheads can be up to 100 times higher than those in tap water.
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