Bacteria Are Everywhere

Bacteria are tiny, one-celled organisms-- generally 4/100,000 of an inch wide (1 micron) and somewhat longer in length. What bacteria lack in size, they make up in numbers. We can't avoid them. The air around us is teeming with them. With every breath we take, we inhale thousands of bacteria, viruses and fungi. A teaspoon of productive soil generally contains between 100 million and 1 billion bacteria. That is as much mass as two cows per acre. ¹

Airplanes

In one study researchers swabbed 400 bathroom door handles from 136 airports in 59 countries. They found that most airport bathroom door handles, like all door handles, have bacteria on them. That's not necessarily a bad thing; bacteria are everywhere and we have immune systems.² The more concerning finding is that 5.5% of the samples had strains of Staphylococcus aureus, one of the strains found in Paris, a type of MRSA, is rare. A genetic analysis suggested that it originated from India, which means the bacterium is now being spread around the world by international travelers. ³ These viruses and bacteria can persist on airplane surfaces for days. Researchers at Alabama's Auburn University were curious about how long bacteria could last after typical air travel conditions. They applied smears of MRSA and the virulent E-coli strain on six airplane surface types-- armrests, plastic tray tables, metal toilet buttons, window shades, seat pocket cloths and leather—where were supplied by a major unnamed major airline. ⁴ What they found was disturbing. MRSA lasted for 168 hours, or seven days, on seat pockets (where travelers reach for magazines), while E-coli samples thrived for up to four days on armrests. For now, researchers say regular hand washing is probably the best way to prevent the spread of disease.

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Hospitals

Bacteria hide in hospitals in some unexpected places. Every day, more than 200 Americans die due to health care associated hospital infections and about 1 in 25 hospital patients has at least one health care associated infection. ⁵ Here are places where bacteria hide in hospitals:

• Flowers- Water and natural sugars found in the stems create the perfect environment for growing bacteria. Solution—ask family and friends to being flat cards and photos to hang on the walls.
• Blood pressure cuffs- More than one-quarter of blood pressure cuffs contained bacteria.
• Glucose testing strips- Bacteria have been found in between 25% to 78% of hospital test strips used to monitor people with diabetes and other patients, such as pregnant women who need their blood sugar monitored. Solution—request health care professionals to open a new vial of test strips for you or individually foil-wrapped test strips.
• Elevator buttons- In one study, 61% of hospital elevator buttons tested were colonized with bacteria. Interestingly, they compared this with toilet surfaces and found bacteria on only 43% of toilets. Solution—use hand sanitizer when you get off the elevator.
• Door knobs and privacy curtains—In one hospital study, 27% of door handles a were contaminated by MRSA or other bacteria and another study showed that at least 22% of hospital privacy curtains were contaminated. Solution—wash your hands after touching door knobs or curtains, and avoid brushing against or leaning on curtains. ⁵

Household Items Needing Attention

A team of experts has identified the tasks we need to do daily, weekly and some that we can get away with doing monthly, or even yearly in the fight to minimize or eliminate bacteria. ⁶

• Daily- clean toilets, clean kitchen surfaces, clean yourself.
• Weekly- wash towels, change bed linens, dust surfaces, clean remote.
• Monthly- wash windows, vacuum under furniture, clean dishwasher.
• Every 3-6 months- vacuum mattress, clean duvet/pillows, clean fridge.

Though household work can seem like a never-ending task, it's important to at least pay attention to some of the more germ generating items, especially in the bedroom. After all, the average person will sleep for 230,000 hours in their lifetime, roughly 1/3 of their life.

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Wind Instruments

Dangerous yeast and molds can flourish in wind instruments. Inside the dark, moist interior of bagpipes, fungi can grow and potentially infest the lungs of people who play. In 2014, a 61 year old man died after seven years of a mysterious illness that left him breathless with a dry cough. Researchers found pink yeast mold and plant fungi living in his bagpipe's neck, the cap that fits over the reed and in the air blown out of the bag. They reported that microbes inhaled everyday could have sparked the patient's disease. ⁷

Dogs

It's estimated that up to three-quarters of healthy dogs harbor the bacteria Capnocytophaga canimorsus in their mouths. These animals suffer no ill effects and, in truth, humans coming into contact with this bacteria rarely suffer any medical consequences. ⁸ But occasionally problems might arise, especially if you have reduced immune function. With a reported mortality rate of 30%, awareness of susceptibility to Capnocytophaga caninorsus is important for groups who might be at risk,such as the elderly. So, should you worry about your dogs' saliva? In general no, although there are rare stories that while we often share our lives, homes and sometimes our beds with our dogs, they can harbor 'partner's that might not be such ideal companions for us. The next time you dog tries to lick your face, instead of worrying about some disease infection, it might be more prudent to think about what your dog last licked—that might be a more scarier consideration. ⁸

Positives From Bacteria

The bacteria in our guts may help decide who gets anxiety and depression. In the ultimate PR turnaround, once-dreaded bacteria are being welcomed as health heroes. People gobble them up in probiotic yogurts, and swallow pills packed with billions of bugs. Helping us nurture the microbial gardens in and on our bodies has become big business, judging by grocery store shelves. ⁹ These bacteria are possibly working at more than just keeping our bodies healthy. They may be changing our minds. Recent studies have begun turning up tantalizing hints about how the bacteria living in the gut can alter the way the brain works. This leads to the question—can we soothe our brains by cultivating our bacteria? Researchers are amassing evidence that they hope will lead to 'psychobotics'--bacteria based drugs made of of live organisms that could improve our mental health. ⁹

Bacteria for Treating TB

Another plus for bacteria: a new treatment for TB is under develpment using compounds derived from bacterium that live in soil according to an international collaboration of researchers, including the University of Warwick. ¹⁰ The researchers looked at soil bacteria compounds known to effectively prevent other bacteria from growing around them. When tested in a containment laboratory, these analogues proved to be effective killers of the bacterium which causes TB. Believed by many to be a relic of past centuries, TB still causes more deaths than any other infectious disease, including HIV/AIDS. In 2015 there were an estimated 10.4 million new cases of TB and 1.4 million deaths from the disease.

Numbers Are Changing

It's frequently said that bacteria cells outnumber our own by ten to one. This 10:1 ratio crops up everywhere. It appears in scientific papers, blog posts, magazine stories, TED talks, and popular science books—sometimes even in the very title. It is undoubtedly one of the most famous statistics about the microbiome. And it's probably wrong reports Ed Yong. ¹¹ It's the result of a back-of-the-envelope calculation that became enshrined as hard fact on little more than its catchy nature and it sounds-about-right-ness. According to a new review by researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science, the correct ratio is more like 1:1. that is, in terms of cell counts, we and our microbes are equal shareholders. We're not outnumbered after all. ¹² These are the best estimates we currently have but there are still of lots of unknowns, both on our human side and our microbial one. As Carl Zimmer notes, “The very fact that scientists are still so unsure of how many cells and bacteria are in each of us is pretty remarkable.”¹¹ References

1. Elaine R. Ingham, “The living soil: bacteria,” nrcs.isda.gov
2. Alex Berezow, “Are airport bathrooms spreading antibiotic-resistant bacteria globally?”, acsh.org, October 7, 2016
3. Frieder Schaumburg et al., “Airport door handles and the global spread of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria: a cross sectional study,” Clinical Microbiology and Infection, September 2016
4. Susanne Rust, “How germy are airplanes?”, discovermagazine.com, April 2, 2015
5. “Bacteria in hospitals,” healthnewsdigest.com, February 27, 2015
6. Ana-Marija Dolaskie, “Household items you never clean, but should,” acsh.org, March 2, 2017
7. J. King et al., “Bagpipe lung: a new type of interstitial lung disease,” Thorax, August 22, 2016
8. Jacqueline Boyd, “Bacteria from your pet's mouth: how dangerous is it?”, acsh.org, July 13, 2016
9. Laura Sanders, “Microbes can play games with the mind,” sciencenews.org, March 23, 2016
10. “New TB drug candidates developed from soil bacteria,” ww2.warwick.ac.uk, March 1, 2017
11. Ed Yong, “You're probably not mostly microbes,” theatlantic.com, Janyary 8, 2015
12. Ron Sender, Shai Fuchs and Ron Milo, “Revised estimates for the number of human and bacteria cells in the body,” PLOS Biology, doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1002533