Hospital Plumbing a ‘Vast, Resilient Reservoir’ of Superbugs

February 23, 2018

When you hear the old saying, if you don’t want to get sick, stay away from hospitals because that’s where the sickness is, generally we think about people who are sick in the hospital that we need to be wary of. But ABC News is reporting on a study that’s found hospitals have more than sick people to worry about. An outbreak of antibiotic-resistant infections that killed seven people at the National Institutes of Health’s own flagship hospital was the impetus for the study, which found there are dangerous bacteria teeming in hospital plumbing. And while the researchers said this isn’t something you need to worry about, they did admit that an infection in one hospital was traced to a mop bucket.

I know these researchers are trying to reassure people that it’s only hospitals that need to worry about their plumbing, but the fact is you need to be concerned about antibiotic-resistant bacteria no matter where you are, including hospitals. For example, Legionnaires’ disease is a deadly respiratory condition that can hit without warning, and which is infamous for attacking people even in the best hotels. It’s known that the bacteria that cause Legionnaire’s favors rusted iron pipes. But new research shows that stainless steel fixtures may degrade and encourage a different strain of Legionella to grow there, too — in hospitals as well as your own home.

There was a time when it was OK to just assume you could turn on the tap and get a drink of good, clean water. But these days, no matter where you live, most tap water is far from pure — even in the U.S., where the water coming into your home may contain a vast array of disinfection byproducts, fluoride, radiation, heavy metals including lead, agricultural runoff, pharmaceutical drugs and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a chemical used in the production of Teflon and flame retardants.

Two major culprits contributing to the contamination and subsequent price hikes are farms operating in areas that supply water to surrounding cities, and large numbers of people living on and around underground watersheds. If you're healthy and your immune system is strong, your risk of catching a disease from a water source that should be assumed clean — such as plumbing in a hospital or your own home — is low.

But, still, the only immediate answer to this is that filtering your water is no longer an option. Plus, if you’re traveling, bring your own water, preferably in a glass container.

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