New Delhi:
A reminder to wash your water bottle because a colony of infectious germs could be building a society right now. A microbiologist has warned that your water bottle may be a breeding ground for germs if it is not cleaned properly. Associating them to ‘barnacles on a boat’, Dr Philip Tierno, a clinical professor of pathology and microbiology at NYU Langone Medical Center, told Mashable; ‘’Bacteria tend to form a biofilm on the inside of the reusable container over time. So you need mechanical action to get rid of that biofilm that coats the inside of the bottle’’
In order to avoid what Dr Tierno likens to barnacles on a boat, you are advised to scrub every inch with hot, soapy water and a bottle brush at least once a week.
Further revealing how germs could speared, Dr Tierno added,
‘’Some people may [for example] carry strains of staph that other people don’t have. They may pick those up shaking hands with somebody, touching things like countertops, doorknobs, elevator buttons, telephones, computer keyboards.
You’re constantly exchanging flora on your hands, and then you’re touching your water bottle. You’re unscrewing it, capping it, scraping lipstick from the mouthpiece – basically, you’re ensuring that whatever was on your hands is getting into that water’’
A study by Treadmill Reviews who conducted a study of the number of germs in 12 water bottles found ‘that reusable drinking containers may be crawling with an alarming number of viable bacteria cells: more than 300,000 colony-forming units per square centimeter (CFU/sq cm)’.
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The lab looked at the four most popular bottles and found that the one with a slide-top hosted over 900,000 CFU where your lips touch.
So, yes if you are not looking forward to welcome the 300,000 gersm in your mouth run the water bottle through the dishwasher after every couple of uses and replacing it often or soaking it in a large bowl of hot water with soapy and vinegar.
