Hot yoga classes provide the perfect environment for deadly bacteria to grow and spread. Be careful and always use a yoga towel. Wash your mat well regularly.
Dangerous super strong bacteria is spreading across the U.S. the CDC warned. The CDC has identified more than 220 strains of what they call “nightmare bacteria” that can kill up to 50 percent of the people who catch them.
About 2 million Americans get infections from antibiotic-resistant bacteria each year and 23,000 die.
Wash your hands before and after yoga class and keep cuts clean until healed.
Skin and soft tissue infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus (SA-SSTIs) including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) have experienced a significant surge all over the world.
Bacteria grow most rapidly in the range of temperatures between 40 °F and 140 °F, ( 4.4°C – 60°C) doubling in number in as little as 20 minutes.
There is a complex relationship between environment and bacterial growth. Survival and growth of the S. aureus bacteria on a host depends on the components of the environment especially temperature, humidity, exposure to sunlight, pH and salinity.
Studies by the world health organization show that the combination of average weekly maximum temperature above 33 °C and average weekly relative humidity between 55% and 78% which occurred during mid-April to mid-June increased the occurrence of S. aureus associated skin infections and MRSA infections. These high temperatures and high humidity levels are found in all hot yoga classes. Yoga mats spread MRSA onto the floors of one studio to another. How often do you think mats are cleaned and how often are the floors properly disinfected.?
Our study showed that temperatures of 90 degrees fahrenheit to degrees 105 degrees fahrenheit and humidity between 55% and 78% is a favorable condition for the occurrence of S. aureus associated skin infections and MRSA infections. Since 65% of S. aureus infections in our study were MRSA, we propose that the combination of temperature above 33 °C 90 °F (up-to 41 °C 105.8 °F in this study) and a relative humidity between 55% and 78% might also have a conducive impact on MRSA skin infections.
