(Tom Hale/ IFL Science) – Rubber ducks might look sweet and innocent, but beneath their glazed-over smile, they harbor a terrible secret. Despite spending half of their lives in a soapy bath, their insides are filthy and pretty damn gross.
New research by the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, ETH Zurich, and the University of Illinois has found that bathtime toys are riddled with bacteria and fungi that could make you ill.
When you squeeze a rubber duck, you might notice a murky liquid seep out. This is actually a dense growth of bacteria and fungi that’s been thriving on the damp inner surface of the bath toys. The study, published the Nature journal Biofilms and Microbiomes, found between 5 and 75 million cells per square centimeter on the inner surfaces of toys that had been used for 11 weeks.
Over 80 percent of the toys studied also contained high numbers of harmful bacteria like Legionella and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, pathogens that could lead to a trip to the hospital. A further 60 percent also contained fungal species. (…)