Too Dirty! The Shower Head at Home is a “Bacteria-Heavy Area”...

Editor: He Jian

How often do you clean your shower head?

I believe most people haven't washed it.

Some people even take a shower

You also need to use the shower head to rinse your mouth...

Little did they know

Such practices may endanger health

Because the seemingly inconspicuous small nozzle

There are a lot of germs lurking inside!

Image source: X Clinic

The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America published a large survey on the bacterial content in the air and water in homes, schools and public buildings, sampling and testing 45 shower heads in five states. The results showed that tens of thousands of bacteria were hidden in almost every shower head, and 30% of them were found to contain a bacterium that can cause lung disease - avian intracellular complex Mycobacterium , which likes to grow in a warm, dark and humid environment, and shower heads are the perfect environment.

Generally, drinking water is heated at high temperatures to kill these pathogens, but the number of germs in shower heads is 100 times that of tap water. They can easily be inhaled into the body through the water column sprayed during bathing, causing infection. Therefore, long-term exposure to such germs may lead to serious consequences for the elderly, children, pregnant women with poor resistance, and people with tuberculosis or immune system diseases.

According to Li Qian, deputy director and deputy chief physician of the Second Department of Internal Medicine at Hunan Chest Hospital , Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare is an environmental saprophytic parasite and a non-tuberculous mycobacterium. When Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare invades human cells, it grows and multiplies inside the cells, causing cell damage and related clinical symptoms. Patients may experience symptoms such as cough, sputum, chest tightness, chest pain, fever, fatigue, swollen lymph nodes, and joint pain. Similar to pulmonary tuberculosis, the common site of onset of Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare is also the lungs, and it often has clinical manifestations similar to pulmonary tuberculosis, such as repeated coughing, sputum, hemoptysis, etc. However, the onset of non-tuberculous mycobacterium disease is more hidden, lacks specific imaging manifestations, and the pathological changes are almost the same as tuberculosis. It is very easy to be missed or misdiagnosed, and the treatment is more difficult.

How to avoid bacterial infection? Liu Wengui, Secretary General of the Sanitary Ware Branch of the China Building Materials Market Association , said that the first thing to do is to clean the scale . You should know that scale on the shower head will cause the water to flow in a scattered manner, the water flow to fork, and the water column from the water outlet to vary in size, which will not only affect the comfort of bathing, but also may become a breeding ground for germs. Therefore, the shower head should be descaled every three months . Specific methods:

You can add clean water to white vinegar in a 1:1 ratio, then soak the shower head in the white vinegar for 3 hours, then brush it with a toothbrush. After rinsing it clean, install the shower head back and rinse it with water. This can remove scale and eliminate bacteria.

The cleaning of the outside of the shower should not be neglected either: dilute the vinegar and wipe the surface of the shower to avoid direct contact with strong acid. Be careful not to scratch it with hard objects such as steel wool, which can easily damage the protective layer on the surface of the shower.

If the shower head is clogged while you are taking a shower, you can use a thin needle to urgently clear the shower outlet. Do not use a toothpick, because a toothpick will easily break when it comes into contact with water, which will aggravate the blockage.

Some shower heads are designed with special structures such as rubber particles and cleaning needles for easy cleaning. Rubber material is soft and comfortable to the touch and is not easy to scale. Simply rub the rubber particles with your hands to easily rub and pop out the scale, making good use of the characteristics of the material. Some shower heads have cleaning needles inside. When the water outlet is changed, the cleaning needle will automatically pop out and take out the scale.

However, it does not mean that you do not need to clean the scale if you install these shower heads with self-cleaning functions. It is best to disassemble and clean them after 4 to 5 months of use for a thorough cleaning and maintenance.

In addition to cleaning scale, buying a metal shower head will be of better quality than a plastic one and will not easily harbor bacteria; bacteria will return after a period of time after a disinfected shower head, so you can choose a cost-effective shower head and replace it regularly; in areas with hard water, try to choose a shower head with a rubber particle water outlet or a self-cleaning device for easy cleaning; the metal hose of the shower head should be kept in a naturally stretched state and should not be coiled around the faucet when not in use.

Reference sources: Dazhong Health News, Sanxiang Metropolis Daily, Life Times