Water and Bacteria Water is certainly essential to us. We need water to live, and of course showering, washing clothes and dishes is an essential as well. Most of the time, water is great, and when you pour yourself a cup of water from the tap, or a cup of cold water from the fridge, you don’t give a lot of thought to the safety, its assumed. While water is essential to humans, its also essential to those harmful little critters that can make a human very ill. Illness Involving Water A very popular water park is a great summer attraction, and of course the kids love it. However, some time back a two-year-old boy almost died from a day of fun at the water park. After his visit, he became ill with what appeared to be flu in the beginning. The child got worse and on day 3 he was being kept alive on supports. That is when the discovery was made that the wading pool at the water park had some harmful bacteria, E. coli. It is fairly obvious how this bacteriumentered a wading pool, you have toddlers in the water, and most are not potty trained. The little boy did survive; however, it was a very close call. Related: How Electronic Health Records Change Jobs A middle-aged woman became ill with flu like symptoms, and after two weeks could just not shake the illness. She became more ill by the day, and doctors could not determine the problem. She was eventually hospitalized where she did finally improve. After an extensive investigation, it was found that the contamination was coming from the woman’s shower head. A buildup of harmful bacteria was right inside the shower head, and each time she showered, she sprayed water directly into her face, including nose, eyes and mouth. Bacteria exists everywhere, however a water supply can often make it multiply quickly. Cleaning surfaces that are often wet, with a bleach or vinegar solution can help to eliminate bacteria. Shower heads, and kitchen sink faucets can be soaked in a cup of vinegar water, which will sanitize the area water comes from, and also eliminate lime scale that builds up from constant water use. There is a popular tv show on currently that leaves the participants with no water supplies, it is left up to them to secure their water source. If you watch the show, you have seen that on occasion the participants drank the
water even though they had not boiled it, or made sure it was filtered properly. You may also have noticed that the people got very ill afterwards. Water is essential for life, and water is certainly good for our bodies, but standing water is likely to generate bacteria that could be harmful to humans or animals. Water sources can be like a needle in a haystack. Most water is safe and fine to consume, but there can be that one needle in the haystack, or drops of water that will harm you if you touch them. Always consume clean clear water, and don’t consume water that has been sitting out for a long period of time. Water is good for us, just be careful and and enjoy a tall glass of ice water that you know is clean. Related: Leading Registered Nurse, Linda K. Tilley, RN, will be Announced in the Worldwide Leaders in Healthcare Please follow us on Facebook, Linkedin, Pinterest, Twitter