3 replies to this topic

[InquilineKea]

Or as another example - what if you touch a surface that's contaminated with potentially pathogenic bacteria (like the ones at http://arstechnica.c...ty-bacteria.ars) and introduce those bacteria into your body and don't get sick. Then could there be some other damage that the bacteria could do your body? Like, at the very least, maybe promote a not-particularly-noticeable increase in inflammation in the regions where the immune system decides to fight the bacteria? Inflammation only starts to get noticeable when some really high threshold gets crossed.

By "sick", I mean, that the symptoms of the infection become noticeable enough to cross the threshold of being unpleasant to the person carrying the infection. I'm sure that there may be some sub-threshold effects that come in first.

And to further clarify my question - what I'm really wondering is - has there been clear evidence that, say, links people who get in contact with dirty keyboards more (and who don't wash their hands) with higher levels of bacteria that cause chronic infections like H. pylori? Theoretically, one can suspect this to be the case, but biology is so complex (and there are so many confounding variables) that I would need actual experimental evidence to be convinced.

And why is this important? We have to establish some sort of balance between using too much soap/other cleaning agents and not using enough of it. If we use too much, the bacteria could develop antibiotic resistance. And if we use too little, there could be an increase in the types of bacteria that cause chronic infections that don't get noticed, even though some of us might not even get physically sick more.

Edited by InquilineKea, 24 April 2012 - 04:51 PM.

[cypan]

One other solution, which I still need to set up in my everyday life, is to wear a tightly-fitting glove for typing--just to act as a barrier between keyboards and your hands. In fact, different gloves for different tasks would be suitable. I have a pair of tactical gloves I wear outdoors. I no longer worry about touching shopping carts and such since all I need to do is wash the gloves regularly. The only downside is those are my only gloves, and one pair of gloves isn't suitable for all tasks. Typing with them on is a bit of a nuissance, and I certainly wouldn't trust them for medical procedures (I need to get my hands on a box of sterile latex gloves or something like that).

[Now]

Maybe you find the 'hygiene hypothesis' interesting.

[cypan]

I put my bets on net benefits here. I hardly live in a sterile environment, but that doesn't mean one should be careless about introducing germ cultures to one's body. For the same reason people bathe or wash their hands, there are solutions that are widely agreed to be net beneficial. For instance, both WHO and CDC agree that face masks are strongly net beneficial in controlling the spread of pathogens. Gloves are another effective way to do this. So, yeah, there's the "hygiene hypothesis", but I assess the amount of benefit one can get out of an intervention, and in this case, I see gloves as pretty darn useful if one's hands go anywhere near one's face after touching germ-dense surfaces like keyboards and desks.