What does your vacuum really do, besides sucking up the debris that litters your carpet and floors? According to a recent study in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, if you don’t change your bag or filter, it may also be kicking up a hot mess of mold and bacteria, which settles as dust until you repeat the vicious cycle the next time you clean. This is especially true when your vacuum cleaner bag is overfull or your vacuum cleaner filter needs to be changed.

Besides being gross, this dust has larger health implications, namely allergies and infections. After measuring the emissions from dozens of vacuums of varying brands in a special clean air wind tunnel, the researchers were able to identify the particles and bacteria that came from the vacuums. What they found in the sampled bacteria were resistance genes for five common antibiotics, including the Clostridium botulinum toxin gene. 

These findings fall in line with previous studies that have identified human skin and hair to be a significant source of bacteria in floor dust and indoor air. The concern brought up by researchers is that pathogens in the air, which are easily re-suspended by vacuuming and inhaled by the home’s occupants, may be potential sources of asthmatic and allergic reactions. 

The good news: there's an easy fix to help settle the dust. Change your vacuum cleaner bags and filters on a regular basis. 

Here are other suggestions from the researchers in the study:

• Ensure the dust bag or chamber in your vacuum is kept clean and dust isn’t allowed to accumulate. 
• People who are susceptible to the bacteria and allergens found indoors should try to get the best vacuum cleaner they can afford. Bagged vacuums perform better than bagless when it comes to allergens and dust collection. 
• Sensitive people may want to consider wearing a disposable mask while cleaning.
• HEPA filters help, but only if changed on a regular basis.  
• Hardwood floors, provided they are regularly cleaned, may help reduce the overall load of dust-borne microbes indoors.

Regardless of floor type, a thorough cleaning regime is key. Another tip: don't let the air in your home get too stale. Emissions cannot be avoided, so good ventilation is very important to ensure air change rates that will not allow accumulation of airborne contaminants.

We’ll be adding “clean vacuum” and “open windows” to our weekly to-do lists. How about you?