Dear Connect Members,
Remember the poll I started about who has the ‘pink slime’ AKA Methylobacterium in their bathrooms? I have been in contact with Joseph Falkinham, a NTM reseacher and professor at Virginia Tech. He is very interested in starting a data base for where this particular bacterium is located throughout the U.S. and Canada. I have noted the locales from those of you who have already responded. Am encouraging any others with the pinkish/orange bacteria to report it back here to me. I don’t know about you, but I am excited to be a part of important research.
Please include your state and county name when submitting. Thank you in advance for helping with this poll. See e-mail below from Dr. Falkinham – Terri M.
“Dear Terri:
The source of mycobacteria in homes and buildings is the municipal water from a utility. It enters the treatment plant from the source water, usually adhering to soil particulates. The mycobacteria are disinfectant-resistant and are the few survivors of disinfection (e.g., chlorine) and have no competitors that have been killed off.
When that water reaches our homes, the mycobacteria grow in the water heaters and then are circulated throughout the house. We are currently finishing up work showing the impact of the water heater on mycobacterial numbers. Thus, the critical control point for mycobacteria might be the water heater.
I would certainly appreaciate knowing where the “Connect” group has found pink slime. You have given me an idea….I can use the NTM Foundation data base to get an idea of pink slime across the US and Canada.
Best,
Joe”
Liked by Colleen Young, Connect Director, heathert, Dee, tdrell ... see all
@windwalker Terri, I’m in Dane County, Wisconsin. Besides the pinkish water rings in our toilets that I mentioned to you before, I just noticed pink residue on the white plastic cap on the bottle that I keep in my car and refill with tap water.
Liked by Dee, tdrell, Terri Martin., Volunteer Mentor
I failed to mention that I live in Alexandria, Virginia.
Liked by Dee, Terri Martin., Volunteer Mentor
I replied on another site to you investigating but I haven’t seen any pink slime anywhere in my home but I see that Dr. Falkinham is saying it’s in the water heater maybe the sources. I’m just trying to figure out what’s causing my illness and my stiff neck and etc. bad pain in chronic fatigue
Liked by Jen, Volunteer Mentor, Dee
I have allergic reactions to ciprofloxacin and Levaquin so they can’t use that so they are using something called EDTA which is a solution that contains silver and something else that helps at it adhere to the sinuses
I’m just wondering if anyone else has been diagnosed with it and if they’re having like a neurological issues from it. I was in the hospital in 2014 and two weeks after that I started having tremors and facial freezing up and I’m still having those issues so now I’m wondering if I’ve had it all this time and it’s just now been diagnosed. I had several Endoscopy and yes I was in a nursing home environment when visiting my mother-in-law. I was just wondering if I picked it up somewhere visiting someone in the hospital also. We’ve had several family members in the past few years Ill and passing away so who knows. We are at that age with lost a lot of family because I’m 70 now and I’ve been ill since I’m 65. In fall of 2013 I got like a viral infection and dizziness and vertigo and sore throat and it’s just been crazy ever since. I did leave a voicemail for Dr. Falkinham
I sent him an email but of course I imagine he’s pretty busy I was just wondering if he had ever seen it causes neurological problems. Thank you for responding
Liked by Dee
@colleenyoung
This is amazing, Terri!
Thank you for reaching out to Dr. Falkinham. I think @tdrell @lindam272 @ling123 @irene5 @128128terry11t will be equally excited about being part of this research. I hope others will raise their hand if they have seen the “pink slime” methylobacterium in their homes. Great work!
Liked by Dee