Singer Katie Boggs says she got so sick she lost her voice and had to change careers. She says her doctors told her her dirty humidifier was making her sick.
Many people turn to humidifiers, especially in the winter, to help with breathing and alleviating cold symptoms. But, an Inside Edition investigation pointed out that if they are not properly cleaned, humidifiers can make you sick.
Singer Katie Boggs says she got so sick she lost her voice and had to change careers.
“It would be physically taxing to like, speak,” Boggs tells Inside Edition.
Boggs says her illness remained a mystery until she opened her humidifier.
She says her doctors told her her dirty humidifier was making her sick.
“It was like mold everywhere,” Boggs says. “I didn’t know, like, you had to clean these things.”
She says she had to get surgery to help heal her voice and used a text-to-speech app to talk for a month.
Now Boggs is preparing to go to physician assistant school so she can help others facing similar conditions she had to overcome.
"Maybe one day I can, like, help people that are in the same shoes as me, like an artist that's having trouble with their instrument," Boggs says.
How dirty can humidifiers get if not cleaned regularly?
Software sales analyst Andrew Snyder-Spak says he and his girlfriend clean their humidifier once a year.
Jennifer Chan says she leaves it to her husband to clean their humidifier.
"He's maybe cleaned it three times in the last three years," Chan tells Inside Edition.
A swab from their Snyder-Spak's and Chan's humidifiers was sent to Micrim Labs in Florida for testing.
Snyder-Spak's results came back showing his humidifier had a bacteria count of 4.8 million. There were four different types of bacteria found, one of which could cause pneumonia.
“We thought that a humidifier was to help our breathing, and the fact that it could potentially hurting it is crazy to us,” Snyder-Spak says.
Results for Chan's humidifier showed a bacteria count of 640,000. A fungus was also found growing in her humidifier.
Allergist Dr. Tania Elliott has some tips to help keep humidifiers clean, fungus-free, and working well.
“If the water is contaminated, then that becomes airborne. You breathe that in and you could end up with an infection,” Elliott says.
She recommends cleaning your humidifiers at least once a week and seasonally.
“Deep disinfection with something like vinegar,” Elliott says.
She also says to never use tap water in your humidifier.
“You want to use distilled water, and you want to empty that water out every day,” Elliott says.
