The Big Bacteria Myth...

[ck1]

Is the whole hygiene thing a bit of a con? Even Dettol are making washing powder now, but is there really an issue with a few bugs, especially in your sheets? My son is 12 and, I'm guessing like many 12 year old boys, doesn't have the highest levels of personal hygiene - washing hands after the toilet / before eating, only showering when told to and so on but he's never been ill other than a cold. We also keep our toothbrushes by the sink in the bathroom which is close to the toilet, I read that whenever you flush everything within a 6ft radius gets coated in toilet bacteria but, assuming most people have the same toothbrush storage habits, wouldn't there be an epidemic of permanent sickness if this was really an issue? Some people even drink their own wee so what's the point in washing your hands after the loo?

[Mamyalynne]

Advertisers have always plated on our fears, a good level of hygiene is sufficient for most people who are otherwise healthy, obsessive sterilising and anti baccing everything is OTT.

If you have someone in the family who is more vulnerable then by all means step up the cleansing.

[Mamyalynne]

^played not plated *

[douglas9401]

Yup, it's a plot formulated by the Russians to send the country back to the good old days of a bath beside the fire once a week, whether you needed it or not.

Well spotted.

[spathiphyllum]

No. the big issue is we use all these antibacterial washes etc.. instead of getting a bit ill and getting over it. This makes the bugs stronger and us weaker. Eventually we will all be wiped out by a super bug, or zombies. Similar things i guess.

[kvalidir]

I grew up an utter mudbug, I was always caked in dirt from playing in the garden and up trees, if I cut myself I didn't go in the house because I didn't want a plaster, if I dropped my sandwich on the floor I'd usually still eat it. I was a little feral nightmare and I was never ill, and I'm rarely ill now, so meh, be clean but not panic stricken over it unless as Mamy says there is someone with a compromised immune system x

[10ClarionSt]

I think it's something of a myth. And lots of money to be made!

[woofgang]

in normal circs, oral faecal sharing, even with family members, is not a problem. The problem arises when someone brings something like norwalk into the house.....or when you have a visitor who doesn't visit often and especially if they live elsewhere in the country or in the world. They will bring their own bacteria and virusses with them and you will be less resistant.
This is why children bring home every bug known to mankind then they start school, and teens do the same if gthey go away to college or uni; also why stuff like norwalk is such a problem in hospitals. Most of the patients will have some kind of reduction in their immune system and are likely not to have met with the virus strain.

[10ClarionSt]

Ok. I give up. What's norwalk?

[bednobs]

google is your friend
https://www.google.co.uk/search?rlz=1C1GGRV_enGB751GB751&ei=oC-iW5riGuOTlwTq37iAAQ&q=norwalk+virus&oq=norwalk+v&gs_l=psy-ab.1.0.0i67k1j0l9.13257.13560.0.15322.2.2.0.0.0.0.196.380.0j2.2.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.2.380....0.cqQyKl7AUoU

[Sqad]

" Some people even drink their own wee so what's the point in washing your hands after the loo?"

Urine is sterile, so no big deal in drinking it.

"assuming most people have the same toothbrush storage habits, wouldn't there be an epidemic of permanent sickness if this was really an issue?"

if people stayed in their own bathroom, enveloped in a air free , similar to a Charnley hip replacement tent, never had visitors and never left that environment, then i would agree there would be no need to wash your hands after going to the toilet.

HOWEVER...this is not the case and bacteria from the bowel e.g norovirus, B.coli etc an change their infectivity and when transferred to door handles etc, may well be transferred to innocent victims.

ALWAYS REMEMBER TO WASH YOU HANDS.

[spathiphyllum]

Do you not agree it's good for the human race for some of us to get ill and fight these illnesses though Sqad?

Too many people taking antibiotics for moot reasons.. Making humans less effective at fighting disease

I do agree though, aint no harm in washing your hands after certain situations

[Sqad]

^^^^ spath.....spot on.

[spathiphyllum]

It's odd what is best for us as individuals and what is best for the population as part of the 'bigger picture'

I place all my bets on a super bug being the thing to end all regarding the Human Race. It may not be for thousands of years, but we shall eventually have to try and fight another plague, no matter how advanced medicine gets.

(Unless we seriously advance in out knowledge, and practise of stem cells)

[Patsy33]

Definitely a money spinner! I wouldn't take too much notice. As long as you wash your hands after using the toilet, which I've always drummed in to my kids, then with a bit of common sense, hopefully no worries.

[rowanwitch]

It's the difference between social clean where you do basic stuff like hand washing and cleaning surfaces. And aspiring towards clinically clean where things are disinfected to the nth degree. If I was changing a dressing even in my own home I would be very careful but do I wash my kitchen floor every day, no I don't. I used to when I was new to housekeeping.

[woofgang]

yes, challenging the immune system is said to be a good thing and I think it probabaly is, keep in mind though that in the good old days when we all ate dirt and never washed our hands, people died. Yes this may have been good for the herd as a whole and yes we should be avoiding antibiotic use as far as is possible, but I don't think we want to go back to the times, and they aren't that far distant, when it was usual to take out a penny insurance policy on babies in order to be able to cover the funeral; and the pram wasn't brought home until the baby was born and healthy. My eldest sister still has her penny policy which thankfully was not needed. Oh and btw, the disinfectant cleaners and sprays do have a place but you cannot beat mechanical removal (NHS infection control training). Hard rub and scrub floors and work surfaces when you clean and do the same with your hands.

[bainbrig]

... oral faecal sharing, even with family members, is not a problem... (woofgang)

Blimey woof, too much information about your family’s intimacies, I fear.

[kvalidir]

Well think how intimate you are with your partner, and you don't come down wit the lurgy every time you get it on do you? But yeah just practice normal hygeigne, and bear in mind if it's not you and your partner then people don't want your bodily fluids all over door knobs :)

[sunny-dave]

Where is JoggerJayne and her ‘Piddle Mints’ when you need her?

[woofgang]

bainbrig (eyeroll) its the medical way of saying toilet flush plume on toothbrushes