Your Shower -Is it Killing You?

So many people associate showers with the morning freshness and cleanness. I that right, or is most of us mistaken?
You wouldn't think that your shower head contains a handful of harmful bacteria that can cause loads of health problems, not to mention the smaller but sometimes more annoying skin and hair conditions.
It only recently came into light and only a couple of people heard about the fact, but there's a real danger that you can become the victim of your own shower.Still, shower heads are full of nooks and crannies, making them hard to clean, the researchers note, and the microbes come back even after treatment with bleach.
Shower heads were sampled at houses, apartment buildings and public places in New York, Illinois, Colorado, Tennessee and North Dakota.
For most people, the simplest and most obvious thing is not to stand in front the spray at the start, said Baumgartner.
The first full blast in the face probably means you're getting showered with a high load of M. avium bacteria she said. "But most people don't do that anyway because that first blast is cold."
The researchers sampled water flowing from the shower heads, then removed them, swabbed the interiors of the devices and separately sampled water flowing from the pipes without the shower heads.
Scientist found the bacteria built up in the shower head, where they were more common than in the incoming feed water.
Most of the water samples came from municipal water systems in cities such as New York and Denver, but the team also looked at shower heads in four rural homes supplied by private wells. No M. avium were found in those shower heads.
In a previous work, the same research team has found M. avium in soap scum on vinyl shower curtains and and above the water surface of warm therapy pools, concentrating only on the obvious sources of infection, while ignoring shower heads.
The research was funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. They are looking to highlight everyday health risks that can be avoided easily if known of.

Here's what happens exactly:
New research shows that disease-causing bacteria is living in the shower head. So when you jump in the shower, the bacteria comes out in water droplets that spray on your face, in your mouth, and all over your vulnerable skin cells.
Scientists found that 20% of the shower heads contain the same dangerous bacteria, that can attack people with weakened immune system. Scientist Falkinham cited studies showing increased M. avium infections especially in underweight, elderly people who have a single gene for cystic fibrosis, but not the disease itself.

What is the solution then?
Changing your shower head now and then? A bit expensive game, isn't it? Experts advise to change your plastic shower heads to metal and clean (I mean disinfect) them regularly. Unfortunately nobody can guarantee the effectiveness and long-lasting of this method.
People who have filtered shower heads could replace the filter weekly, added co-author Laura K. Baumgartner. And, she said, baths don't splash microbes into the air as much as showers, which blast them into easily inhaled aerosol form.
Or there are some really reliable products on the market that will guarantee the hygenie of the water dripping from your shower head. More than that: the claim that they are also softening the water and making it condition your skin.