Your bathroom is full of microorganisms. Microbiologists have discovered a forest of unknown viruses from your toothbrush to your shower head, but should we be worried?
In a new study published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiome, researchers from Northwestern University collected samples from 32 toothbrushes and 92 showerheads across the United States and found hundreds of different viruses on their surfaces, many of which had never been seen before.
“We might think of our toothbrushes and shower heads in one way, but in another sense, they’re a habitat for microbes, a place where microbial ecology happens,” Erica Hartmann, the study’s lead author, told Newsweek. “It’s a microbial world; we just live in it.”
The viruses discovered in this study belong to a group of viruses called bacteriophages, which evolved to infect bacteria, not humans.
“There is nothing in our results that indicates any need for concern or increased cleaning,” Hartman said. However, this does not mean that the researchers are not enthusiastic about their results.
“Toothbrushes and shower heads contain phages that are unlike anything we have seen before,” Hartman said. “Not only did we find different types of phages on toothbrushes and shower heads, we also found different types of phages on every toothbrush and every shower head. That much.” “The diversity is enormous, and it’s not due to anything specific to toothbrushes or showerheads. There are a huge number of phages waiting to be discovered.”
So why should we care about these viruses that infect bacteria?
“There is a lot of interest in harnessing phages for biotechnology or medical applications,” Hartman said, explaining that since penicillin comes from moldy bread, “the next great antibiotic may be based on something that grew on your toothbrush.”
For example, phages can be used to kill disease-causing bacteria in plumbing systems and waterways.
“We want to look at all the functions these viruses might perform and figure out how we can use them,” Hartmann said. “Even if this doesn’t lead to some great new technology, it is important to monitor and record the diversity of phages, because it expands our basic understanding of biology.”