The author's right. What he didn't say however, was that the white bacteria (Staphylococcus) that are nasty infectors are probably not the Staph that is on the shower curtain. I'd expect most Staph there to be Staph epididymus, which occurs superabundantly on human skin. The yellow bacteria (called Sarcina lutea when I went to school) are, after Staph epididymus the most common bugs in inhabited houses. So yes - scratch your head or elsewhere, and you'll leave your bacteria on your shower curtain. But it's not worth having nightmares about at night. BTW, when a bleach compound (Tilex, etc., or a 5% solution of plain old household bleach) is used on a surface, the effect is good for about 3-4 days. I make my living doing indoor air quality studies. Convincing people that they should be clean, etc. is a good first step.
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The author's right. What he didn't say however, was that the white bacteria (Staphylococcus) that are nasty infectors are probably not the Staph that is on the shower curtain. I'd expect most Staph there to be Staph epididymus, which occurs superabundantly on human skin. The yellow bacteria (called Sarcina lutea when I went to school) are, after Staph epididymus the most common bugs in inhabited houses. So yes - scratch your head or elsewhere, and you'll leave your bacteria on your shower curtain. But it's not worth having nightmares about at night. BTW, when a bleach compound (Tilex, etc., or a 5% solution of plain old household bleach) is used on a surface, the effect is good for about 3-4 days. I make my living doing indoor air quality studies. Convincing people that they should be clean, etc. is a good first step.