We try to make sure that our discussions of the microbiology of the “built environment” are very inclusive. That means in addition to the obvious houses and office buildings we’ve talked about plumbing systems, planes, trains, etc. But this story is certainly the first time I’ve thought about what is dwelling inside of musical instruments. Of course microbes are everywhere but I never thought about the humid environment inside of a brass or wind instrument… that then can get sucked directly into the deep part of the lungs. And as opposed to the usual scare story (e.g. “your dishwasher is trying to kill you”) this talks about a few cases where it sounds like the instrument really was a health problem.