Shower Curtains Teem With Bacteria
Shower curtains
can house a teeming metropolis of bacteria that could make some ill.
University of
Colorado microbiologist Norman Pace decided to test shower curtains for
signs of life.
He found 80
percent of the bacteria belonged to the sphingomonads or methylobacteria
families -- both of which include species capable of infecting open wounds
and sickening people with weakened immune systems, the Baltimore Sun reports.
Pace, who washes
his shower curtain every couple of months, told a meeting of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Seattle the bacteria
probably live off organic chemicals shed by the body.
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Copyright 2004 by United
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