A: You're absolutely right. Washing your hands is the first line of defense in germ warfare. But there's another incredibly simple way of reducing your of infections from common bathroom germs and bacteria… Wash your shower curtain. That's right: Believe it or not, your innocent-looking shower curtain or plastic shower-curtain liner is actually the bacterial equivalent of the Mardi Gras-a decadent frenzy of microbial breeding and debauchery of potentially deadly magnitude. According to a Nature Science Journal online report, a curious University of Colorado microbiologist examined samples of soap-scum scraped from five different shower curtains (including his own), and was horrified at the density and diversity of potentially harmful bacteria that teemed under his microscope lens. More than three-quarters of the bacteria present in these five samples were classified as members of a pair of microbe "species" capable of infecting wounds or attacking the systems of those with less-than-optimum immunity-like many elderly folks or those taking any number of prescription medications. People on the anti-rejection drugs commonly taken after organ transplantation would be especially vulnerable to these types of pathogens. My advice? Install sliding glass doors on your shower-they're very likely to be less hospitable to bacteria in the first place, and they're a lot easier to clean the soap scum off of. At the very least, you should launder or disinfect your shower curtain and liner (with bleach or hydrogen peroxide, preferably) every time you clean the bathroom. Or if you want to go the really easy route, throw yours away every few months and buy a new one.
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