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Scientists found more than 600 distinct viruses after swabbing peoples’ toothbrushes and shower heads — but thankfully, the vast majority of them are more helpful than harmful.
Northwestern microbiologist Erica Hartmann, lead author of a new study published this week in Frontiers in Microbiomes, told Gizmodo that she was equal parts shocked and fascinated when discovering that these everyday objects were teeming with bacteria-eating viruses known as bacteriophages.
“There is so much about the world around us that we don’t understand — including the things that may seem familiar,” explained, she said. “We started out looking at things like toothbrushes and showerheads because they are important sources of microbes that we’re exposed to, but we don’t know which microbes they carry or what factors influence them.”
The latest study was an update to the Northwestern team’s 2021 project “Operation Pottymouth,” which involved investigating the sources of the bacteria found on toothbrushes.
Though there was incredible diversity among the more than 600 phage samples, a type that kills illness-causing mycobacteria was slightly more common than any other, Harmann said. Given that mycobacteria can cause serious infections like leprosy and tuberculosis, it’s a good thing that viruses killing them were present as well.
“Toothbrushes and showerheads harbor phage that are unlike anything we’ve seen before,” the microbiologist said. “Not only did we find different phage on toothbrushes and showerheads, we found different phage on each toothbrush and each showerhead.”
Phages have in recent years been studied and used as treatments for bacterial infections, especially those that have mutated to resist antibiotics. While Hartmann insists these findings are captivating on their own merit, knowing that they may be used in medical treatments makes them that much more useful.
“It could be,” she said, “that the next great antibiotic will be based on something that grew on your toothbrush.”
While that’s not exactly pleasant to think about, it certainly sounds a hell of a lot better than leaving a mycobacterial infection like TB or chronic ulcers untreated.
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