Top Facts About Hot Tub Lungs

The phrase "hot tub lungs" refers to a lung infection, an infection that has been found in certain members of the population who have, and who regularly use a hot tub. The infectious organism that causes hot tub lungs is the Mycobacterium avium.

Unlike the organism that causes bird flu, this M.avium should not be viewed as some sort of newly emerging infectious agent. Scientists have long known that M avium bacteria exist in the air. Normally, however, people have had little reason to fear the entrance of such an organism into their lungs.

A number of bacteria from the air can settle on the moist sides of a bath tub. The humans who use tubs and showers carry many bacteria. Normally, however, those bacteria are washed off by the water as it drains from the bath tub. The water in a hot tub does not drain in such a manner.

Unless the people who use a hot tub have made a point of showering before they jump into the hot tub, they could introduce into that hot tub a number of bacteria. One of those bacteria is the M. avium that causes hot tub lung.

A hot tub owner typically adds chlorine to the water in the hot tub. Yet that hot tub water is warmed to temperatures as high as 84 degrees F. At that temperature, chlorine is no longer an effective disinfectant. At that temperature the chlorine can not kill any bacteria coming off of the hot tub users.

Any M. avium that come off of a hot tub user find a welcoming environment in the moist and warn hot tub. They grow there largely unnoticed. They do give off a tell-tale odor. A hot tub owner should heed the warning in such an odor.

If hot tub water starts to "smell," then bacteria are growing in that hot tub. M. avium are probably among those growing colonies of hot tub bacteria. The steam and bubbles in the hot tub launch the M. avium into the air. Riding on a moist particle in the air, the M. avium can then enter the lungs of a hot tub user.

Commonly, patients who appear in a doctor's office with hot tub lungs receive the wrong diagnosis. They might be told that they have asthma, or they might be told that they have bronchitis. If they fail to mention that they use a hot tub, the doctor will not tell them to stay away from that hot tub.