Pacifiers Crawling With Germs
Nov. 2, 2012 -- Just as many parents suspect, pacifiers are a gold mine for germs, a new study shows.
The study doesn't show whether any babies got sick from their germy pacifiers.
Parents have enough to worry about without stressing about germs on pacifiers, says infectious disease specialist Bruce Hirsch, MD, of North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y. “Germs are all around us,” he says. “Of course, they are present on pacifiers and all kinds of things, and kids are great at putting all objects in their mouths.”
The study was small, with the researchers testing 10 used pacifiers taken from healthy infants, and seven new pacifiers. Five of the used pacifiers were slightly contaminated, and the other five were heavily contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumonia, and fungus. In all, the researchers found more than 40 different species of bacteria on the pacifiers.
New pacifiers also had bacteria, but not as much. “They don’t have as much because they are not exposed to food and water yet,” says researcher Thomas Glass, DDS, PhD. He is a microbiology expert at Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences in Tulsa.
The study was not designed to see if kids became sick from using the pacifiers.
The findings will be presented at the 2012 American Society for Clinical Pathology annual meeting in Boston.
How Moms Can Stop Germs
The study doesn't show whether any babies got sick from their germy pacifiers.
Parents have enough to worry about without stressing about germs on pacifiers, says infectious disease specialist Bruce Hirsch, MD, of North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y. “Germs are all around us,” he says. “Of course, they are present on pacifiers and all kinds of things, and kids are great at putting all objects in their mouths.”
The study was small, with the researchers testing 10 used pacifiers taken from healthy infants, and seven new pacifiers. Five of the used pacifiers were slightly contaminated, and the other five were heavily contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumonia, and fungus. In all, the researchers found more than 40 different species of bacteria on the pacifiers.
New pacifiers also had bacteria, but not as much. “They don’t have as much because they are not exposed to food and water yet,” says researcher Thomas Glass, DDS, PhD. He is a microbiology expert at Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences in Tulsa.
The study was not designed to see if kids became sick from using the pacifiers.
The findings will be presented at the 2012 American Society for Clinical Pathology annual meeting in Boston.
How Moms Can Stop Germs
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