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Tap water is a source of germs
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
Almost every person is sure that the dirtiest place in their home is the toilet, but Californian researchers made an unexpected discovery - as it turned out, ordinary tap water spreads several times more harmful bacteria into the air, compared to other sources, including the toilet.
Bacteria move freely through the air in the house, accumulate on various objects, surfaces and can enter the human body during breathing or with dirty hands. Microorganisms can penetrate the house in various ways - on a person's clothes and shoes, through an open window, with pets, etc. The discovery made by scientists surprised them - as it turned out, the main distributor of pathogenic flora in the house is tap water. When the tap is opened, a huge number of bacteria rise into the air, more than from other surfaces, including when flushing the toilet.
According to the researchers themselves, this may be due to the fact that microorganisms have a better ability to penetrate from water into the air.
Scientists conducted this study to find out the bacterial component of residential buildings, since it is at home that people spend most of their free time. At the University of California, specialists selected about 30 houses from which they took samples from different surfaces, objects, and pets. Scientists studied bacteria inhabiting toilets, shower caps, bathtubs, rugs, floors, kitchens, windows, clothing, and animal fur. Scientists also selected samples from the skin of the people living in a particular house.
The main question that interested the experts was to find out from which surfaces or objects the maximum number of bacteria gets into the air and the result, as already mentioned, puzzled the experts. As the research showed, the largest number of microorganisms live on carpets and floors, while regular ventilation contributed to an increase in the number of harmful bacteria on these surfaces.
Speaking of microbes, it is worth noting that smartphones have become an integral part of almost every person’s life, but few people think about how many bacteria live on their gadget.
In Britain, a group of experts decided to find out the answer to this question, and it turned out that the surface of smartphones is inhabited by more microbes than the button on a toilet flush tank.
The scientists determined the number of microbes on a smartphone in the following way: the gadget, which was used as much as possible for its intended purpose, was placed in a special nutrient solution that activated the growth of pathogenic microorganisms. As a result, after a few days, the number of pathogenic microbes on the smartphone increased significantly.
Further research showed that there were more bacteria on the smartphone than on a men's toilet, and the level of contamination on the phone was 10 times higher!
Experts recommend that all gadget owners better monitor the cleanliness of their devices, especially children's phones, otherwise, it can become dangerous to health, since few people think that a phone can be a distributor of infection. According to experts, using special disinfectants once every 5-7 days will be enough to protect yourself and your child from danger.