Rubber duck might look sweet and innocent , but beneath their glazed - over smile , they harbor a painful secret . Despite spending one-half of their biography in a soapy bathtub , their insides are nasty and pretty damn rank .
New research by the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology , ETH Zurich , and the University of Illinois has find that bathtime toy are riddle with bacterium and fungus that could make you ill .
When you hale a rubber duck , you might detect a cloudy liquid state seep out . This is really a dense maturation of bacteria and fungi that ’s been boom on the damp inner surface of the bath toys . The field , put out the Nature journalBiofilms and Microbiomes , get between 5 and 75 million cells per square centimeter on the inside surface of toy that had been used for 11 workweek .
Over 80 percent of the toy studied also contain high numbers of harmful bacteria likeLegionellaandPseudomonas aeruginosa , pathogen that could take to a trip to the hospital . A further 60 percent also hold back fungal species .
“ Mouldy bath toys are widely discussed in on-line forum and blog , but they have have little scientific attending to date , ” Dr Frederik Hammes , study author , explained ina command .
The risks involved with a filthy duck are comparatively minimal and almost sure enough not deadly . As many parent and doctors will tell apart you , endanger your fry to germs and dirt help oneself them to develop a inflexible immune system . However , Hammes added that children with a weaker resistant system could be at risk if they squirt the cloudy water supply into their faces , as kids be given to do . “ This could strengthen the resistant system , which would be positive , but it can also result in eye , ear , or even gastrointestinal infections . ”
Do n’t worry , health - obsessed scientists are not go to take forth your synthetic rubber ducky . They do n’t even reckon you should attempt to clean your bath toys after use . The researchers on the project insist that the best way break up the problem is to push for higher - quality polymers to make bathtub toys and other plastics we keep in our bathroom .
