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A bunch of viruses were found in toothbrushes! Why you should not worry

A bunch of viruses were found in toothbrushes! Why you should not worry

Your toilet is full of viruses. Researchers at Northwestern University studied two things most people use every day—the toothbrush and the shower head—to see what lives in each.

What they found was "quite surprising," says Erica Hartmann, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northwestern, who led the study, which focused on identifying the viral species present in the toilet. Most unexpectedly, she adds, "we found an incredible diversity, which shows how little we know and how much more we have to explore and discover."

Before you throw away your toothbrush or dismantle your shower head, though, keep in mind that the vast majority of viruses Hartmann and her team found were types known as bacteriophages, viruses that almost exclusively infect bacterial cells, not human cells. Scientists have known about phages for nearly a century, but only recently have they developed the tools necessary to identify and study them in more detail.

The good news is that, since phages don't infect human cells, "I don't think any of our results are cause for concern," Hartmann says. "There's no reason to worry, so there's no reason to throw away your toothbrush because of this."


What the findings highlight, however, is that there is a whole world of phages ready to be explored. "The more we learn, the better we can inform things like phage-based therapies."

The diversity of what the researchers discovered—no two toothbrushes or two shower heads contained the same population of phages—bodes well for the vast catalog of phages that can become the basis for new treatments. The discoveries also expand our understanding of the range of effects microbes can have on humans, both good and bad. "We don't know exactly which microbes we're exposed to and when, or how they promote health or well-being," says Hartmann.

"But overall, it's important to look at the microbes around us with a sense of wonder and curiosity, rather than fear. If we can understand what all the microbes are doing and how they're doing it, we can be more intentional about how we care for things like toothbrushes—and in turn, take better care of ourselves and our environment.”