Story URL: http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=68149
Story Retrieval Date: 2/9/2010 9:02:51 PM CST
Jonathon Rubin/Medill
Is this really necessary? A look into germs and the things we do, and should do, to combat them.
You may have heard that your desk has more bacteria than a toilet seat. It was on CNN, after all.
Or about the “new” antibiotic-resistant bacteria like MRSA that seem to be all over the news.
Serious danger, right? Time to panic and bathe in antibacterial gels?
Not so fast, experts say.
The CNN report may be accurate but, “Germs don’t leap off the table and go through your skin,” said Dr. Rebecca Wurtz, an infectious disease physician and a public health teacher at Northwestern University.
But Wurtz said pressure from consumers has been spurring an industry firmly focused on eradicating germs everywhere.
Witness the trend of creating children’s toys laced with antibiotic compounds. Or the “nano-fabrics” showcased recently at Cornell University. Woven into stylish clothes are microscopic silver and palladium particles to “scrub” filthy substances we come in contact with.
Wurtz said these products aren’t just largely unnecessary, they are even potentially dangerous.
“Germs are spending all their time trying to evade our defenses,” she said. “They figure out what’s in Purell that is irritating them and try and get around them.”
So creating a doggie dish with antibiotic plastic won’t result in sterility, but in tougher, hardier germs that your body might have more difficulty fighting off.
And there’s another reason.
“When you sanitize, you are also sanitizing your own defenses,” the body’s own anti-microbial strike force, said Dr. Riaz-ul Haque. “This business of sanitizing is oversold.”
“You had an army on the wall of the fort waiting to defend it, and you came up with your own gunner and gunned them down,” said Haque, who is associate professor of microbiology at the University of Illinois Medical Center.
However, Purell, the extremely popular hand sanitizer, is OK, experts say.
Susan Gerber, chief medical officer for the Chicago Department of Public Health, said that hand gels contain alcohol – not antibiotics. The body’s defenses “recolonize right away” after hands are cleaned with alcohol.
“[Purell] has not been shown to have negative effects,” she said. In fact, it works just fine when you don’t have soap and water handy.
The most common carrier of germs, it turns out, is us.
“We don’t live in a sterile world – there are bacteria and viruses everywhere,” said Gerber. “And there always have been. And that’s OK.”
Added Haque: “There is more fear attached to them than understanding.”
Coming in contact with germs shouldn’t automatically repulse us. Our bodies both produce and host millions of them, after all, as does just about everything we eat. Guess what’s in your probiotic yogurt?
Haque said it’s important to know that there are harmful and harmless germs. Even harmful ones are dangerous only under certain circumstances. Most germs can’t live for long on inanimate objects. For instance, cold or flu germs can only survive outside the body for a few minutes up to about a half-hour.
“Every organism, in order to produce disease, has to have certain conditions met – a large enough number, and the right site,” Haque said.
Stomach germs, for example, need to be in your stomach to cause you any problems. If they get on your hands, and stay on your hands (and out of your mouth or eyes), no problem.
And even if they do get to where they are trying to, they need to be in pretty large numbers to hurt you – most common germs can’t afflict you instantly and in small numbers.
So here’s some free medical advice: Use common sense to stay healthy. If you get lots of rest and wash your hands before eating, your body’s natural defenses can take care of most germs that come your way.
1. Brush your teeth before you go to bed! Believe it or not, keeping your teeth clean can do more than prevent cavities -- it can keep germs from getting to the rest of your body as well. When you sleep, you don’t salivate as much, and your body’s stomach acids become less acidic and less able to kill germs. That means that food left in your teeth, and more importantly the germs in them, have the opportunity to multiply and wreak havoc. This can lead to intestinal and stomach problems. So remember – a healthy mouth really does lead to a healthy body!
2. Blow your nose! While your nose does a good job of catching nasty little particles before they get inside your body, it does a lot of filtering during the day and can use a good cleaning. Blowing your nose before you go to sleep keeps the air passages clean and can cut down on upper respiratory infections.
3. Cover that sneeze! Air-borne organisms tend to come from our sneezes and coughs, which quickly spread through the air in close quarters. They don’t live long, but in a crowded train it could make a difference. So sneeze or cough into your elbow to stop the germs from circulating. And if you sneeze into your hands, try to wash them before you high-five your buddies.
4. Wash your hands the right way! Dr. Rebecca Wurtz, associate professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University, said that just dipping your hands under the faucet doesn’t do much. “You need hand-to-hand friction to dislodge the germs,” she said.
And timing is important too.
“You should wash your hands as long at is takes you to sing 'Happy Birthday.' ”
Think of it as karyoke practice.
5. THE BIG THREE —
The easier way to stay clean and healthy – keep to Dr. Riaz-ul Haque's simple system.
“You should make a ritual before going to bed – brush your teeth, blow your nose, wash you hands."
Regarding the MRSA scare, Susan Gerber, chief medical officer for Chicago Department of Public Health, calls it an “over-break of awareness.” Schools are not breeding grounds for MRSA and don’t need to be scrubbed or shut down, she said.
MRSA stands for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and is usually shortened to "Mursa.” It’s a bacteria that has lead to some nasty infections, largely in hospitals and long-term care health facilities. The people most in danger are those with weakened immune systems.
A Chicago health spokesperson said that “while MRSA infection is not to be taken lightly, it is typically treatable.”
You may have heard that your desk has more bacteria than a toilet seat. It was on CNN, after all.
Or about the “new” antibiotic-resistant bacteria like MRSA that seem to be all over the news.
Serious danger, right? Time to panic and bathe in antibacterial gels?
Not so fast, experts say.
The CNN report may be accurate but, “Germs don’t leap off the table and go through your skin,” said Dr. Rebecca Wurtz, an infectious disease physician and a public health teacher at Northwestern University.
But Wurtz said pressure from consumers has been spurring an industry firmly focused on eradicating germs everywhere.
Witness the trend of creating children’s toys laced with antibiotic compounds. Or the “nano-fabrics” showcased recently at Cornell University. Woven into stylish clothes are microscopic silver and palladium particles to “scrub” filthy substances we come in contact with.
Wurtz said these products aren’t just largely unnecessary, they are even potentially dangerous.
“Germs are spending all their time trying to evade our defenses,” she said. “They figure out what’s in Purell that is irritating them and try and get around them.”
So creating a doggie dish with antibiotic plastic won’t result in sterility, but in tougher, hardier germs that your body might have more difficulty fighting off.
And there’s another reason.
“When you sanitize, you are also sanitizing your own defenses,” the body’s own anti-microbial strike force, said Dr. Riaz-ul Haque. “This business of sanitizing is oversold.”
“You had an army on the wall of the fort waiting to defend it, and you came up with your own gunner and gunned them down,” said Haque, who is associate professor of microbiology at the University of Illinois Medical Center.
However, Purell, the extremely popular hand sanitizer, is OK, experts say.
Susan Gerber, chief medical officer for the Chicago Department of Public Health, said that hand gels contain alcohol – not antibiotics. The body’s defenses “recolonize right away” after hands are cleaned with alcohol.
“[Purell] has not been shown to have negative effects,” she said. In fact, it works just fine when you don’t have soap and water handy.
The most common carrier of germs, it turns out, is us.
“We don’t live in a sterile world – there are bacteria and viruses everywhere,” said Gerber. “And there always have been. And that’s OK.”
Added Haque: “There is more fear attached to them than understanding.”
Coming in contact with germs shouldn’t automatically repulse us. Our bodies both produce and host millions of them, after all, as does just about everything we eat. Guess what’s in your probiotic yogurt?
Haque said it’s important to know that there are harmful and harmless germs. Even harmful ones are dangerous only under certain circumstances. Most germs can’t live for long on inanimate objects. For instance, cold or flu germs can only survive outside the body for a few minutes up to about a half-hour.
“Every organism, in order to produce disease, has to have certain conditions met – a large enough number, and the right site,” Haque said.
Stomach germs, for example, need to be in your stomach to cause you any problems. If they get on your hands, and stay on your hands (and out of your mouth or eyes), no problem.
And even if they do get to where they are trying to, they need to be in pretty large numbers to hurt you – most common germs can’t afflict you instantly and in small numbers.
So here’s some free medical advice: Use common sense to stay healthy. If you get lots of rest and wash your hands before eating, your body’s natural defenses can take care of most germs that come your way.
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