If you value your home carpet, you know how important it is to keep it clean and healthy through the years. This can not only increase the longevity of your carpet, but help maintain you and your family’s health in the long run. When you’re not following the carpet cleaning basics of vacuuming at least once a week and taking in your carpet to get professionally cleaned at least twice a year by a company like E&L Chem-Dry Carpet Cleaning, you’re not just exposing your carpet to unnecessary grime and dust. You could be opening the door for some seriously dangerous bacteria. When bacteria finds a home in your carpet, it could create an atmosphere of illness and danger throughout your entire home, especially in the colder winter months. Here are a few common bacterial strains to be aware of.
Norovirus
Also known as the ‘winter vomiting virus,’ norovirus is an extremely common strain of bacteria that can nest in your carpet anywhere from a few days to a whole month. Norovirus is extremely hard to kill and can be tracked into your home easily, especially if you live in an urban capital or another densely populated area. Even if you spend time dropping your children off at daycare or kindergarten, you could easily be bringing strains of norovirus back into your home and trapping them deep in your carpet fibers. The only way to get rid of this bacteria is to take your rug in for a thorough professional cleaning.
Salmonella
Salmonella is one of the more unpleasant winter bugs a person can pick up from an undercooked meal or a batch of unpasteurized eggs. But salmonella doesn’t just occur in undercooked foods. This virus can show up anywhere at any time, which means it can be easily brought into your home, especially if you have a lot of guests coming and going. Salmonella is quite resilient and can live in your carpet or in your vacuum bag for a while before dying out.
MRSA Bacteria
If you go to the gym a lot, you could be bringing the type of bacteria that creates MRSA and staph infections into your home through your gym bag, sweaty socks, or old sneakers. These bacteria can make a home in your carpet and infect the first open wound it attaches to. After the bacteria spreads, it could end up wreaking havoc on your immune system, especially if it’s compromised to begin with.
Enterococci
Although we all have some amount of enterococci bacteria in our intestinal tract, an overdose is to be avoided at all costs. Too much of this bacteria can cause a lot of painful side effects, including long-term intestinal problems, urinary tract issues, and flu-like symptoms. Once this bacteria makes its way into your system, it only grows stronger, so the best course of action is to avoid it in the first place.
Campylobacter
This bacteria, which can bring on flu-like symptoms like unpleasant, painful cramps and vomiting, lives and thrives in moist environments. If your carpet isn’t thoroughly cleaned, campylobacter could end up finding its way in and creating a home for itself deep in your rug’s base. That’s why it’s important to let your rug fully dry after a cleaning or to opt for a water-free cleaning style for your rug.
