BIOFILM!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>>>>>>>Deadly bacteria may thrive in slimy water pipes
LONDON (Reuters) - Slime building up inside water pipes could be the breeding ground for bacteria that cause stomach ulcers and cancer, scientists warned Wednesday.
The stomach bacterium Helicobacter pylori is a known risk factor for stomach cancer, the second biggest malignant killer worldwide after lung cancer.
Half of people over 50 in the developed world, and even more in poorer countries, carry the bacterium, but scientists are not sure where it originates or breeds in the environment.
Donald Reed and researchers at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, Scotland, think the stomach bug could thrive in biofilms that build up inside slimy water pipes.
''Biofilms occur naturally in all water distribution systems,'' Reed told New Scientist magazine. ''Anywhere there is a biofilm, there is a potential haven for Helicobacter pylori.''
Reed and his team grew biofilm inside pipes in a laboratory and injected it with the bacterium. It survived even after flushing the pipes with unchlorinated water for 192 hours.
They said the threat of Helicobacter pylori could be particularly dangerous in unchlorinated water in wells and water supplies in developing countries, but added that even chlorinated water may not be safe.
''Chlorine is only going to attack the upper layer (of biofilm). By the time those are destroyed, the chlorine is gone,'' Reed added.<<<
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