New Delhi: A new study has found that reusable bottles may contain up to 40,000 times more bacteria than an average toilet seat.
According to the report published in HuffPost, a team of researchers from US-based WaterfilterGuru.com picked up swabs three times from different parts of bottles with spout-like lids, screw-like lids, separation lids and pressed lids, and found two types of bacteria present on them — gram-negative rods and bacillus.
Keong Yap, associate professor of psychologist and hoarding disorder specialist at the Australian Catholic University, compared the finding to objects used by children to eliminate stress, saying, “These are objects that cannot deceive us… They are trustworthy, and not like people who can hurt us…”
In the study, the researchers explained that Gram-negative bacteria can cause infections that are also resistant to antibiotics, some types of bacillus can cause gastro-intestinal problems.
They compared cleaning bottles to everyday household items and reported that a bottle contains twice as many germs as a kitchen sink, four times more bacteria than a computer mouse and 14 times more bacteria than a pet food pot.
According to the New York Post, Dr Andrew Edwards, molecular microbiologist at Imperial College London, said, “The human mouth is home to a large number of different categories of bacteria… So it is not surprising that drinking utensils are covered with microbes…”
Even though water bottles can produce large numbers of bacteria, according to Dr Simon Clark, microbiologist at the University of Reading, it’s not necessary that bottles prove dangerous. “I have never heard of a person getting sick from a bottle of water… Similarly, taps are clearly not a problem…”
“When was the last time you heard of someone getting sick from taking a glass of water from a tap…? Water bottles can be contaminated with bacteria that are already present in people’s mouths…”