Well some of the bacteria is only there since whatever gunk was on the child’s hand started to decompose but broadly speaking this marketing-driven shite about germs bugs(!) me as well. I basically stopped sterilising our son’s bottles once he started crawling (bum-shuffling actually) - what’s the point in sterilising his bottles once he’s putting his dirty hands in his gob? Provided the bottles are clean and there’s no milk left on them there’s no need to sterilise in my opinion.
Sometimes I wonder how people ever got out of the caves given the things that could potentially kill you, at least as far as the marketers are concerned.
It shouldn’t create immune system problems, if that’s what you are asking. Opiates are wonder drugs, honestly, aside from the obvious side-effects. It’s a shame they’ve gotten such a bad name. Besides, anyone on that much morphine would be getting it prescribed. If there were such side effects, the doctor should have listed them. Seems very unlikely.
Drive slower, wear your seatbelt, look both ways carefully before pulling out into traffic. These are the actions that will save your life (and possible someone elses). From a statistical standpoint speeding is more dangerous that eating a discarded ham sandwich on the floor of a public restroom.
But the media reports on any case of weird contagion, and ignores the thousands of deaths in car accidents so people focus on the wrong things.
This PSA is brought to you by Burnout 3, and the letters F and U.
There comes a time when I pull out the “Dude with a samurai sword” contingency in discussing things of this nature.
Sure you can be careful and OCD about keeping clean and using sanitzer. It is a good idea to use the stuff before eating, etc.
But, this is where the dude with a samurai sword comes in.
You spend your entire life being safe, and one morning you wake up to go to work. You walk outside to get in your car… and the dude with the Samurai sword is there. It is time to punch out your life card, because dude with a samurai sword is taking it.
Honestly, there is so much that can go wrong in the world that I find that there is no point in worrying about these kinds of things. Sure, have some hand sanitizer… it will probably lower your chance of getting sick. Is hand sanitizer going to stop dude with a Samurai sword?
Yeah, the body in some way benefits from exposure to bacterial organisms, but more in the context of getting kids to roll around in the dirt and that sort of thing. I guess the idea is to better develop an immunity, and keep it stimulated enough so that it doesn’t become overactive upon exposure to some sort of antigen, thus resulting in the various allergies and the like. Plus, let’s face it, active people are healthy people, unless of course you happen to walk outside for your daily jog and some dude with a samurai sword is waiting for you. Jerk!
I use ‘hospital grade’ alcohol based antibacterial soaps daily, they don’t dry out my skin, even now my hands feel “soft and supple.” It probably depends more on the brand. I should add that because I do work in a hospital pathology lab culturing these lovely little bugs that I am a little more inclined to use the stuff.
Keep in mind though that these ‘soaps’ simply kill the normal flora on the skin, it won’t affect your body’s immune system. Goodness me, there’s more than enough bacteria inside our various other orifices. So, in a domestic setting I really don’t see the point. I believe ordinary everyday soap combined with good handwashing technique is good for the simple fact that it will remove much of the flora on the skin, the same flora present essentially everywhere. You can wipe and clean all you want, but the bacteria will come back, especially when considering that if 99.99% of bacteria are killed, it still leaves a few thousand (potentially more) present. After 4+ hours when the organisms hit log phase of their growth, you may as well have not cleaned.
I do see a use of antibacterial wipes however when out on the road, using public toilets and the like. That is where I believe they are more useful. Alcohol based is best because it is the drying action from the alcohol which kills the bacteria (and viruses etc), not the drowning in alcohol.
I hypothesize that the only time antibacterial stuff is useful is when the transmission points are highly controlled, like a nurse who cleans her hands before entering the room, puts on sterile gloves, then touches nothing outside the room before touching the patient (or whatever their process is). Cases like a public restroom, where you only touch the flush handle and the sink handle, would be equivalent.
Edit: I’d like to see a study on what antibiotic resistant strains come from hospitals/stockyards/elsewhere, if such work exists. Anybody?
Our hospital has hand sanitizers and Purell bottles all over the place. We were each given a pocket-size bottle a month or two back. I’m a therapist working with psych patients and we’re required to sanitize our hands after we talk to a patient, even if we didn’t shake hands or touch anything in their room and even if we talk to them in the hallway.
