Currently viewing the category: "microbes"

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.

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.

Copyright © 2013 Dr. Nick Campos - All Rights Reserved.