By Stephen Beech via SWNS
Showerheads and toothbrushes are “teeming” with viruses, reveals new research.
Forget tropical rainforests and coral reefs – the latest hotspot to offer “awe-inspiring” biodiversity lies no further than the typical bathroom, say scientists.
Microbiologists found that showerheads and toothbrushes are harboring an “extremely diverse” collection of viruses – most of which have never been seen before.
But they say the good news is those viruses don’t target people, but bacteria instead.
The American research team explained that microorganisms collected in the study are bacteriophage – or “phage” – a type of virus that infects and replicates inside of bacteria.
Although little is known about them, phages recently have 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, according to the findings published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiomes.
Study leader Professor Erica Hartmann, of Northwestern University in Illinois, 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 is an offshoot of previous research, in which Professor Hartmann and her colleagues characterized bacteria living on toothbrushes and showerheads.
For the previous research, the team asked people to submit used toothbrushes and swabs with samples collected from their showerheads.
Inspired by concerns that a flushing toilet might generate a cloud of aerosol particles, Prof Hartmann dubbed the toothbrush study “Operation Pottymouth.”
She said: “This project started as a curiosity.
“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.”
After characterizing bacteria, Hartmann then used DNA sequencing to examine the viruses living on those same samples.
She was amazed as, altogether, the samples comprised more than 600 different viruses – and no two samples were alike.
Hartmann said: “We saw basically no overlap in virus types between showerheads and toothbrushes.
“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.”
While they found few patterns among all the samples, the researchers did notice more mycobacteriophage than other types of phage.
Mycobacteriophage infects mycobacteria, a pathogenic species that cause diseases including leprosy, tuberculosis and chronic lung infections.
Hartmann imagines that, someday, researchers could harness mycobacteriophage to treat those infections as well as others.
She said: “We could envision taking these mycobacteriophage and using them as a way to clean pathogens out of your plumbing system.
“We want to look at all the functions these viruses might have and figure out how we can use them.”
Hartmann cautioned people not to fret about the invisible wildlife living within our bathrooms.
She said that instead of grabbing for the bleach, people can soak their showerheads in vinegar to remove calcium build-up or simply wash them with plain soap and water.
Hartmann says people should also regularly replace toothbrush heads.
But she is not a fan of antimicrobial toothbrushes, which she said can lead to antibiotic-resistant bugs.
Hartmann added: “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.”
