Triclosan aids nasal invasions by staph
The antimicrobial compound found in soaps and toothpaste may help infectious bacteria stick around
By Beth Mole
Sneezing out antimicrobial snot may sound like a superpower, but it actually could be a handicap.
Triclosan, an omnipresent antimicrobial compound found in products ranging from soaps and toothpaste to medical equipment, is already known to show up in people’s urine, serum and breast milk. It seeps in through ingestion or skin exposure. Now, researchers have found that it gets into snot, too. And in the schnoz, triclosan seems to help the disease-causing bacteria Staphylococcus aureus instead of killing the microbes.