Showerhead Alert!
Dirty showers may be more frightening than Alfred Hitchcock’s classic scene in “Psycho.” New research finds that 30 percent of the “gunk” collecting in showerheads throughout the country has high levels of Mycobacterium avium, which can cause lung infections.
This bacteria forms a microfilm that clings to the inside of the showerhead. As it builds up inside, levels of M. avium in the shower can be 100 times higher than that found in typical home water supplies, probably explaining why the incidence of lung infections are increasing.
“If you are getting a face full of water when you first turn your shower on, that means you are probably getting a particularly high load of M. avium, which may not be too healthy,” says researcher Norman R. Pace, PhD, at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Water spurting from infected showerheads can distribute bacteria-filled droplets in the air. And they can easily be inhaled into the deepest part of the lungs.
People with compromised immune systems, pregnant women, and anyone with lung problems like COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that involves asthma and emphysema) are most susceptible to infection. Symptoms include fatigue, persistent dry cough, shortness of breath, and just plain not feeling well.
Showers have also been identified in the spread of other infections, like the form of pneumonia known as Legionnaires’ disease. Without careful filtration, showerheads can also release other environmental toxins into your home.
Chlorine, for example, is a major toxic chemical in drinking water. Although it’s added to public water supplies to disinfect against bacteria, chlorine is not effective against all pathogens and doesn’t kill parasites, like giardia and cryptosporidium.
Even if you don’t drink chlorinated water, you can breathe it in while showering. And the skin is no barrier to this toxin, either.
Chlorine reacts with natural organic matter in water to form cancer-causing compounds called trihalomethanes (THM). One of the best-known and most thoroughly researched THM is chloroform, used as a general anesthetic.
Not only can Chloroform cause kidney, liver, and nervous system damage, lab studies have also linked it with cancer. That may explain why western European nations use ozone and ultraviolet light to purify their water supplies instead of chlorine.
Dr. Ann Louise’s Take:
Emissions from hot showers can dissolve 50 percent of the chlorine and 80 percent of other carcinogens like THM and radon in the water—only to have you and your family breath in (via the lungs) and absorb (via the skin) these dangerous substances.
I believe that chlorination should be the last—not the first—step in water treatment. In fact, I strongly advise against all chlorination of drinking water. I would like to see the increased use of granular-activated charcoal, ozone gas, and/or ultraviolet light treatments, like those used in Europe.
Fortunately, not every municipal water system in the U. S. uses chlorine. If that’s not a problem where you live, consider metal showerheads, which are less likely to harbor M. avium, according to Dr. Pace. Also change your shower filters often.
For safe, clean chlorine-free showers, my bathroom is equipped with the affordable and easy-to-install High Output Shower Filter which also removes toxic heavy metals like iron and lead. My home is outfitted with a whole house filtration unit to provide additional maximum elimination of contaminants. Contact Uni Key Health Systems at 1-800-888-4353 for more information on customizing a home filtration system specific to your family’s needs.
Sources:
https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/09/11/0908446106.abstract
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19131092
