Potentially harmful bacteria can slip through antimicrobial showerheads, study finds

To guard against harmful waterborne pathogens, many consumers, including managers of health-care facilities, install antimicrobial silver-containing showerheads. But in ACS ES&T Water, researchers now report that these fixtures are no "silver bullet." In real-world showering conditions, most microbes aren't exposed to the silver long enough to be killed. However, the composition of rare microbes in water from these showerheads varied with each type of fixture tested.