Hundreds of viruses live on your toothbrush, shower head: Study

A new study released Wednesday, Oct. 9 might make you consider cleaning your bathroom. Researchers at Northwestern University found more than 600 different viruses living on shower heads and toothbrushes. 

Many of the microbes on toothbrushes come from a mixture of the human mouth and surrounding environment. On shower heads, many come from water sources. 

However, the viruses found in the study are not the kind that make you sick.

Bacteriophages, or phages, are the natural enemy of bacteria. Each tripod-looking phage has evolved to hunt, attack and eat a specific bacterial species. Phages are currently in clinical trials with hopes to create new drugs to treat antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

There is also interest in using them to create more sophisticated drugs that only kill the bad bacteria, unlike broad-spectrum antibiotics. 

“The number of viruses that we found is absolutely wild,” Erica Hartmann, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northwestern who led the study, said. “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 study was published in the Frontiers and Microbiomes journal.