Give Your Home The Probiotic Makeover

Bacteria aren’t always bad. Some, like the billions that live in our guts, are vital for our health. So should we make our homes and cities more hospitable to these beneficial microbes?

- Andy Ridgway

For generations, we’ve dealt with the bacteria and other microorganisms we share our homes within one way: wipe them out. By pouring or spraying something onto household surfaces we keep germs away and stay healthy. It’s a tactic that many of us have ramped up during the pandemic to keep the SARS-CoV-2 virus at bay. But there’s growing evidence that we need to take an entirely different approach to these microbes. While there’s no doubt that some of the microorganisms that live among us are harmful (and nobody is suggesting that cleaning isn’t a good way to keep the likes of SARS-CoV-2 out of our homes) there’s growing evidence that many of them are actually doing us good.

The thing is, we’ve been unwittingly meddling with the microbes we share our living rooms, kitchens and outdoor spaces with, creating hostile environments for those beneficial bugs. It means that while the idea of using probiotics in our bodies has been around for a while, soon we might be giving our homes and our cities the probiotic treatment too.

WHAT’S IN THE SOUP?

Research to characterise the invisible microbial soup that we live in has taken off over the past decade. In May 2021, the results of a giant research project that involved 900 scientists and volunteers taking swabs of the microbes living on ticket machines, railings and seats in subways, buses and trams in 60 cities around the world was published. This audit of urban microbial life found no fewer than 10,928 viruses and 1,302 bacteria that had not been identified before.