Comments on: I Wash My Hands Of You

By: Swine flu handwashing repost | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine

Swine flu handwashing repost | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 22:00:52 +0000

[...] chops over this), but I’m also lazy and busy, so instead of new material I’ll repost this blog entry from 2005 about hygiene and hand washing. It’s still true and always will [...]

By: Crux Australis

Crux Australis — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 21:50:27 +0000

This is probably going to earn me some derision, but I don’t always wash my hands after number 1’s (especially in the middle of the night) because urine is sterile. I know that bacteria can use the urea and proteins as nutrients but I’ve never got sick because of it. My wife simply can’t be bothered either.

For the record, always after #2’s.

By: boofooz

boofooz — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 12:31:46 +0000

I think people are far too uptight about bacteria. Obviously you should wash your hands after going to the toilet and especially if you are preparing food or you’re a doctor but many people try to achieve a sterile environment, which is just not healthy.

I’m not talking about being friendly to the “friendly” bacteria that we need. I’m talking about the fact that our immune system is a learning system and like all learning systems, it needs something to study, otherwise it will grow dumb and do stupid things. People who are mad about disinfecting their environments do nothing but teach their immune systems to attack everything except real bacteria and then they wonder why they easily get sick and suffer from allergies. Most likely they think they’ll get sick even more often if they wouldn’t be so “clean”.

Of course all the companies selling disinfectants want to scare us into using their products but we shouldn’t forget where we came from and what environment we evolved in.

By: Nigel Depledge

Nigel Depledge — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 20:24:17 +0000

One last thought : I wouldn’t worry too much about door handles. If they’re dry, the bacterial load will not be very much anyway, and if they’re wet, a paper towel is unlikely to prevent multiplying bacteria from reaching your skin. To achieve a “sterile” filtration requires a very tight filter (the generally accepted guide is 0.22 micron pore size, but 0.45 microns will take out more than 99.9% of an organism like E. coli). Your average paper towel is unlikely to constitute anything like this standard. The fibres will wick up the moisture, and the bugs will come with it.

Have fun, everyone!

By: pumpkinpie

pumpkinpie — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 16:57:38 +0000

HawaiiArmenian:
Good points, but I wanted to nitpick your statement, “taking great care and concern only when around immuno-compromised individuals (such as the young, the old, and the ill).” Some people have immunodeficiences who are not young or old, and do not look sick. So you never know if you’re “not taking great care” around someone who needs you to. They of course are aware of their conditions and should be taking extra care themselves, but they would be better off if everyone always took great care no matter whom they were around! (In a perfect world, I know!)

By: Nigel Depledge

Nigel Depledge — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 21:22:42 +0000

MacDaGerm – when you say “Thereâ€™s pretty much nothing to be afraid of, thereâ€™s nothing out there that your body hasnâ€™t dealt with yet.” I think you are right in a general sense, but wrong in specific instances.

Take Escherichia coli as an example. Everyone had E. coli in their intestines. This is perfectly normal, and nothing to be ashamed about. However, across the planet there are many different strains of E. coli, meaning that they have small genetic differences from one part of the world to another. So, there are probably at least a hundred strains of E. coli to which I have never been exposed; each of these has the potential to make me ill, if only mildly, and perhaps only for a short time. It is possible that a few of them could make me very ill. And I know that there is one strain that is potentially lethal : E. coli O157H7 has caused fatal food poisoning in the Western world quite recently.

So, while I accept that one cannot avoid exposure to bacteria, and in fact one should not even try to live life in a sterile environment (unless seriously immunocompromised), there is a tangible benefit to washing one’s hands after using a toilet.

By: MacDaGerm

MacDaGerm — Thu, 21 Jul 2005 08:31:46 +0000

My 2 cents ..

Well, probably someone mentioned it before already, but I couldn’t be bothered going through all of the fifty-something comments here. Washing your hands is alright, I don’t blame anyone for washing their hands. Jeez, have a shower after each time you touch a doorknob that has been touched by others, but keep one thing in mind:

You can run, but you cannot hide.

These little organisms are everywhere, they live under your bed, in your kitchen, inbetween your toes, in your armpits, hell, in your ears. They’re on plates, on knifes, on forks, they are on potatos, rice, tomatos, apples and cherries.

This is just a guess, but avoiding contact with bacteria might even turn out to be contra-productive. Your body uses small amounts of bacteria to research anti-bodies to fight “invasions” of greater numbers of their fellow brothers and sisters. So the urge to stay clean in a way that it includes bacteria and other stuff that cannot be seen might in fact seperate us from the world around us.

Of course the idea of taking home things that have been in intimate places of other people isn’t the most appealing thing, however it’s not likely to get you killed. Instead regular contact with bacteria does to enhance your resilience.

I’m not saying “Don’t wash your hands” or “Don’t have a shower in the mornings”, I’m just saying that you shouldn’t take it too far. There’s pretty much nothing to be afraid of, there’s nothing out there that your body hasn’t dealt with yet.
Greets,

Mac

P.S.: English isn’t my motherlanguage, so please bare with me.