germs: obsessive-compulsiveness or a real threat?

I do tend to think that somehow by not being overly wary of germs I'm actually strengthening my immune system by being exposed to lots of crap, but maybe that's just me feeling self-righteous.

Sometimes when you go to another country it takes a while to get use to the food.

IOW, without the presence of a certain disease agent (bacterium, virus or parasite), the disease associated with that agent will not and cannot emerge. But the mere presence of the agent is generally not decisive. It is a necessary but not a sufficient cause of disease.

people i work with are driving me INSANE with this germ shit. we just got a mass email reminding us that cold season is approaching and to not forget to use the anti-bacterial handsoap by every sink. i'm not even going to start with what's wrong with that, but it's just one element of a wider misinformed obsession with this bullshit that seems to be part of the culture here.

i know i'm overreacting but this one has been itching for a while and i had to scratch. theraputic to see some sanity on this thread.

Do you work for the NHS?

This is great:

You acquire most of the initial microbes in your gut community from your parents, but others are picked up from the environment. "The world is covered in a fine patina of feces," as the Stanford microbiologist Stanley Falkow tells students. The new sequencing tools have confirmed his hunch: Did you know that house dust can contain significant amounts of fecal particles? Or that, whenever a toilet is flushed, some of its contents are aerosolized? Knight's lab has sequenced the bacteria on toothbrushes. This news came during breakfast, so I didn't ask for details, but got them anyway: "You want to keep your toothbrush a minimum of six feet away from a toilet," one of Knight's colleagues told me.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/magazine/say-hello-to-the-100-trillion-bacteria-that-make-up-your-microbiome.html

Or that, whenever a toilet is flushed, some of its contents are aerosolized?

As a result of chemotherapy + stem-cell transplant, I always lower the lid before flushing now.

I've been doing that for about a decade now, after learning about the aerosol effect cited above. In a Dave Berry column no less.

Yeah, it sounds awful. I also shut my toilet lid before flushing since hearing about it. But I wonder if it really makes much difference health-wise. From the article, it sounds like a certain amount of germ-exposure may be beneficial - or at least neutral.

We more or less live in a constant broth of assorted bacteria. Most of them are neither beneficial nor harmful to us. Even those which cause disease are often not harmful to us until they reach a certain level of exposure, which level can vary depending on the current state of our immune system.

The evidence is building that children living in an environment where bacteria occur at far lower levels than normal do not develop immune systems with much versatility or savvy. Immune systems learn from bacteria and viruses and these kids' systems are not learning enough to cope very well.

uh oh

http://www.stopthestomachflu.com/does-clean-laundry-have-germs-1

How germy is everyone's laundry?

After I discovered that the dryer didn't kill all germs like I had thought and hoped, I wondered if everyone's "clean" laundry was actually full of bacteria. My family, neighbors, and friends were very good sports about me testing their laundry. I went to everyone's house when the dryer was done. Wearing gloves, I selected 2 pieces of laundry from their dryer. I put 1mL of sterile water on each piece of laundry.

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So, at this point I realized that all of our clean laundry is probably full of bacteria unless we used chlorine bleach. Norovirus and C. diff are much harder to kill than ordinary bacteria so those organisms would certainly survive the even the best washing without bleach. Maybe that is why even when we are so careful, a stomach virus still spreads to everyone in the house? The main problem with chlorine bleach (besides the fact that is isn't healthy for you) is that it can only be used on white loads because it fades everything. Also, adding chlorine bleach is not quite as simple as it sounds. Bleach didn't work in my washer at first. Keep reading.

Does the washer kill germs if you use chlorine bleach?
The previous experiments that I did where I tested people's clean laundry led me to suspect that laundry would only be germ-free IF you used 1/2 cup of chlorine bleach in each load. However, it is not quite that simple. At first, even adding bleach to my machine did not produce clean laundry. Also, please note that I am using concentrated Clorox Chlorine bleach in my experiments. The directions say use 1/2 cup bleach per load.

I HATE my Samsung HE top loader!

I have a high efficiency Samsung top loader, and I am not impressed with it. There is no way to manually increase the volume of water used. I've never felt that it used enough water or agitated the laundry enough. Here is a video of my washing machine "washing" my son's sheets and comforter. It is hard to see because the lid is dark, and I had to shine a flashlight in and hold my phone. As you can see, the laundry is not covered in water and is not agitating at all. Here is the video. So, if you are shopping for a HE top loader, this is probably what you are going to get. I would recommend an HE front loader or an old fashioned agitator top loader that uses more water.

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When I did a hot load with bleach in my neighbor's old Whirlpool machine, I added the bleach directly to the wash water and got very clean results. I used my Tide Free and Clear detergent for this load. It looks like a few bacteria were picked up from the dryer which wouldn't have been sterile.

I was worried about front loaders. There is no way that you can add bleach directly to the wash water in those. I did a load in both of my neighbor's front loaders using 1/2 cup of bleach in the dispenser, and they both came out very clean. Whew. The front loaders agitate the clothes so much more than a top loader (with no agitator). Maybe that is why they work better.

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I got a new washer!

I got a Whirlpool Duet HE front loader. It has a sanitize cycle and a steam cycle. I've had since December 2015, and I still like it. There could be a better washer out there, I just don't know which one. It does not use much water. Just the normal cycle doesn't use enough water to displace all the pee in my son's pajamas. I have to use the extra heavy soil sanitize cycle with extra rinse for really dirty stuff.

My last washer made it nearly impossible to generate clean underwear because adding chlorine bleach to the dispenser did not result in clean laundry for some reason. So, the first thing I tested with my new washer was whether or not I could get the white towel/sock/underwear load bacteria-free by using 1/2 cup chlorine bleach in the dispenser, Tide Free and Clear detergent, and the sanitize cycle (set to normal soil). I also used the extra rinse because I want to make sure all the bleach is removed. The cycle is 1 hour and 45 minutes. I blotted several pieces of laundry from the load onto the agar plate straight out of the washer. I did not dry the laundry before testing it.

As you can see, I have achieved a clean white load!!!! Of course, I hope you remember that I am only testing for the presence of bacteria on these agar plates. I can't grow viruses at home. There are also some types of bacteria that won't grow on this type of agar plate. So, even if a plate looks clean, that does not mean that absolutely no microorganisms were present. However, the washing method that generates a clean looking plate most likely has less microorganisms total present than a washing method that generates a plate with lots of bacteria. So, I am very happy with these results!

this has been my worst nightmare ever since i moved out on my own

jesus almighty i don't know how i will lie down in bed tonight