SCIENTISTS TAKE CLOSE LOOK AT TOOTHBRUSHES AND DISCOVER THEY ARE VIRAL ARMAGEDDON
It’s the second week of October, so you’ve inevitably been exposed to the retail explosion of all that is spooky leading up to Halloween. And while that can be good fun, I’m going to share something that is truly spooky, to a degree to make the most staid square hermit shudder. Scientists decided to take a critical look at toothbrushes, one of the most common, boring everyone-has-one item in their homes, bags, work desks and school lockers. We all use them, or should use them, at least twice a day. And that’s because the human mouth is a dirty place filled with plaque, crumbs, bacteria and who knows what else. So don’t be shocked to learn that this critical look found that the common toothbrush is like a viral Armageddon.
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TOOTHBRUSHES AND SHOWER HEADS HAD OVR 600 VIRUSES, MANY NEVER SEEN EVER BEFORE
So you might be thinking that most of us simply keep our toothbrushes in the bathroom, which is inevitably a hotbed environment for a veritable ton of microbes. And that’s where we all keep a toothbrush… So scientists took swabs from a host of people’s toothbrushes (and shower heads) and found each of them all to be their own little viral Armageddon. And we’re talking about hundreds of viruses, as many as over 600 of the little beasties. And even better for the scientists, many of these viruses were until now undiscovered. But don’t be too spooked, as these viruses hunt bacteria, and aren’t a danger to us (or you).
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YOU MAY WANT TO USE MORE BLEACH WHEN CLEANING YOUR VIRAL ARMAGEDDON, OR BATHROOM
So who knew the bathroom was a new frontier for science? But these scientists had the right idea, as any bathroom -including yours- is a rich and diverse environment for viruses. But they call them microbial neighborhoods, but a better term you may already know is biomes. And I must say this takes me back to when I learned as a kid that things too small to see live on our skin. But my spooky imagination clearly didn’t keep up with the knowledge that the too small to see applies to everything and everywhere. Including the viral Armageddon bathroom, or every single bathroom you’ve ever been in.
You can read more about the study here.
