Attention! Do your cosmetics have this dangerous bacterium?

If you love trying out new cosmetics, you need to be updated about this new bacterium that has started surfacing in popular cosmetics.

Cosmetics are known to be mostly harmless, but one constituent in them can now pose to be a health risk. One such constituent found in a recent research is a bacterium called Pluralibacter (P. gergoviae).

Since its introduction in early 2000, a wide number of products have been tagged for posing a microbiological risk and notified via the European rapid alert system for consumer products 'Safety Gate' (formerly RAPEX). Now, it has been found that as many as ten cosmetic products listed in the RAPEX database were affected by confirmed contamination with P. gergoviae.

If any of the products you are using are contaminated with P. gergoviae, chances are that the deadly bacterium can enter the body via open wounds or the mucous membranes. Researchers have suggested that the bacterium may cause severe infections in people with pre-existing conditions.

According to Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) any externally applied cosmetic product should be free of P. gergoviae in order to avoid a health risk for humans.

While further research is still on, the health risks associated with the use of such cosmetic products cannot currently be quantified due to the lack of reliable data.

With inputs from ANI