Currently viewing the category: "germs"

Wash Dammit!

By On · Add Comment · In antibiotic resistant bacteria, bacteria, germs, hand washing, hygiene, infections, microbes, The Six Keys to Optimal Health, vaccinations

Five years ago I wrote and published a book called The Six Keys to Optimal Health. I really contemplated the concept of adding a seventh key, which would have been hygiene, but I resisted because I made a gross assumption–that pretty much everybody in the modern world is attuned to this paramount health practice.

I now realize that I was severely wrong.  In fact, improper hygiene seems to be a continuing scourge of the new millennium. From dirty hospital rooms, leading to an increased spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria, to dirty tattooing equipment, to dirty soda fountains, it’s pretty clear to me that human beings haven’t yet gotten this one down, so let me say it loud and clear: WASH YOUR HANDS!

Whew, I feel better. According to researchers at the Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety,

“Hand-washing is the single most effective way to prevent the spread of infections. You can spread certain ‘germs’ (a general term for microbes such as viruses and bacteria) by touching another person even casually. You can also catch germs when you touch contaminated objects or surfaces and then touch your face,” the group explained in a news release from the Society for Women’s Health Research.

Yes, wash people. You go to the WC…wash. You shake somebody’s hand…wash. You handle money…wash. You touch food? Wash. You work with people? Wash. You have kids with snotty noses? Wash dang it!

Oh waaait…you don’t know how to properly wash your hands? Got it…okay, well here you go…straight from the Centers of Disease Control:

  • Place hands under clean, running water.
  • Once wet, add soap and rub hands together until suds form.
  • Scrub on every surface for at least 20 seconds (the amount of time it takes to sing “Happy Birthday” twice), including both sides, between fingers and under fingernails.
  • Rinse hands again under running water and dry with a clean dry towel or air-dry.

Listen, proper hygiene is so important it’s often the difference between developed nations and third world countries. Some people even believe that it was the improvement in methods and practices of hygiene and not vaccinations that led to the dramatic decrease in death and illness due to infectious microorganisms–I’m one of these people.

Simple as this–wash your hands like you’ve never washed before. Get a sink in your car. Wash in your sleep. Go nuts–you can never wash too much. This has been a public service announcement.

Got Germs?

By On · Add Comment · In bacteria, C-reactive protein (CRP), children, Filipino, germs, infectious diseases, inflammation, sick, virus
Don’t let me say I told you so, but…

A recent study proves that we must be exposed to germs as kids or risk getting sicker as adults. Duh! Told you so.

This, oh-my-god-don’t-come-near-me-if-your-sick stuff is pointless, and detrimental in the long run. Consider getting sick as updating your computer virus scan–same idea. Check it:

A recent U.S. study that followed thousands of participants from birth (in the 1980s) to 22 years of age showed that although Filipino children were exposed to many more infectious diseases than their American counterparts, they had much less inflammation as adults. Inflammation was measured by the concentration of C-reactive protein (CRP) which is an indicator of the body fighting off infection.

According to Thomas McDade, lead author of the study, “CRP concentrations are incredibly low in Filipinos compared to people in the United States and that was counter to what a lot of people would have anticipated because we know that Filipinos have higher exposure to infectious diseases.” The take home lesson, McDade stressed is the importance of being exposed early in life to common microbes and bacteria.

Why? Again, exposure to infectious agents updates the virus scan. Says McDade, “These bacteria and microbes may never result in outright clinical disease but they do play an important role in promoting the development of regulatory networks.”

I know, I know, dude…I’ve been telling them. You’ve got to get sick. It’s healthy, get it? Sick is health. I know it doesn’t make complete sense, but life is tricky. So is health. To be truly healthy, you’ve got to be sick sometimes. No biggie. Swine flu, bring it on. Rhinovirus, bring it on. Chicken pox, bring it on. Kids and adults have gotta be prepared.

Here goes another cool way to think about it: McDade, who has a two-and-a-half-year-old son, likened immune system development to the way Americans promote brain development in infants and toddlers by exposing them to “all sorts of cognitive and social stimuli. There’s rapid brain growth early in life and there are lots of neurological connections being formed, and you need to engage with your environment in order to promote those connections.”

So observe the ten-second-rule: Your kid drops food on the floor, you’ve got ten seconds, have Pumpkin pick it up and eat it. On second thought, drop the rule altogether–just let Pumpkin eat. It’s for her health.

Oh, and I told you so.

Dirty Money

By On · Add Comment · In AIDS, dirty money, germs, immune system, infectious, Kaposi's Sarcoma, microbes, Pneumocystis carinii (PCP)


Just saw a piece on the news tonight about the amount of infectious microbes present on paper money. Apparently money is dirtier than a toilet seat. The microbiology expert that tested the money warned of the many illnesses we’re in danger of contracting from handling the dirty green.

First, why does everybody assume a toilet seat is the dirtiest thing we encounter? Aside from public toilet seats used by unsanitary vagrants, and which are never cleaned, they can’t possibly be dirtier than a sink, the floor of a twenty-five cent peep show, or the bedspread at a motel. But money?…that seems obviously filthy.

Second, why be afraid of the germs we encounter on a day to day? If people really knew how many potential pathogens we come across in our daily lives, they’d feel real queasy. Hundreds of thousands of microorganisms are all around us–in our beds, in the shower, in the air, on door handles, everywhere. That’s precisely why we’ve developed immune systems–to fight the multitude of microorganisms we come in contact with everyday. Our immune systems are working silently to contain and defeat invaders, to suppress mini-cancers that pop-up from time to time, and to do it all without our knowing it. That’s exactly why immune deficiencies–like AIDS or radiation therapies–are so dangerous. They leave people immunocompromised and susceptible to disease. People with advanced AIDS often die from infections like Pneumocystis carinii (PCP) and Kaposi’s Sarcoma, which are usually benign to the average person.

But if your immune system is working fine, it defends you from microorganisms constantly. So don’t worry about the dirty money, the dirty air, or the dirty toilet seat. I’d still avoid public bathrooms like the plague, and use toilet seat tissue covers on shared bathrooms; but I wouldn’t stop taking money when it’s handed to me, germs or no germs. My immune system won’t allow that idiosyncrasy.

Drive-through Medicine

By On · Add Comment · In drug-resistant, germs, immunocompromised, infections, Methicillin-resistant staph aureus (MRSA)

Want to know what aspect of modern living contributes significantly to the spread of drug-resistant germs? Fast food health care, that’s what.

What’s fast food health care? It’s the churning out of patients from over-crowded hospitals to make room for new and ever-growing patients. Yow! They’re pumping ’em out like Big Macs. Hold the bed sores, hold the lettuce…

According to Australian researchers, the overcrowding and quick turnover of hospital beds is leading to the spread of antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria, like the methicillin-resistant Staph aureus (MRSA) we saw spread to the general population at the beginning of the year. The problem seems to stem from super-busy doctors, nurses and other health care workers not washing their hands well and as frequently as recommended during busy times–that is, during times of understaffing and high workload. Eew! Yuck! Just what I want from my local fast food hospital. Shouldn’t we post letter grade ratings in the windows like we do with restaurants?

MRSA killed an estimated 19,000 Americans in 2005 and made 94,000 seriously ill. Wash your hands, McSceavy…please! MRSA infections can range from boils to more severe infections of the bloodstream, lungs and surgical sites. It is spread by the hands and on contaminated medical equipment. And last year nearly 5 percent of U.S. patients were infected or colonized with MRSA. Double Yecch!

So I’ll just say what I always do: Stay out of the American hospital system if you can help it (and British and Australian systems, too, while you’re at it). They are breeding grounds for filth. I’m the first one to trust in the strength of the environment of the human body with its immune system arsenal, but hospitals usually equal knocked ass-out on narcotics and left a bit immunocompromised. Under these circumstances, uh…I’ll put my dough on the germs. Stay healthy, practice the The Six Keys To Optimal Health, and wash your hands, arms, body and clothing profusely if you ever spend time in the fast food medical germ cafeteria. Makes a drive-through sound pretty darn good, now doesn’t it?

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