Germs are unavoidable
Re “Where do germs lurk?’’ (Scene, Jan. 4): Has the author not heard of the “hygiene hypothesis,’’ indicating that autoimmune and allergic diseases are more prominent in hygienically “clean’’ communities as compared with “dirty’’ environments? Every part of our body is covered, internally and externally, with billions of bacteria and viruses that make up the normal flora or microbiome of the body. This flora is crucial for protection of the body and has numerous beneficial functions, including absorption of nutrients and activation of the immune system. It’s not surprising therefore, that every surface that we touch — including elevator buttons, restaurant menus, kitchen surfaces, and our own skin — are covered with organisms that cause no harm. Clearly some pathogens (organisms that cause disease) are transmitted from person to person, or from surface to person, and it makes sense to wash hands after using the bathroom or handling meats that may contain bacteria. We are in the middle of flu season, so avoiding contact with people who have respiratory symptoms, and utilizing germ reducing strategies, is good hygienic practice. However, to walk around with hand sanitizers to destroy every “germ’’ we touch is crazy. We exist in a world of organisms, and in fact, are one of them.
Dr. Arthur Rabson
Director, Clinical Microbiology, Dept. of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Tufts Medical Center
Calling Felix Unger
The article “Where do germs lurk?’’ advises how we can protect ourselves from germs. In addition to the usual washing or sanitizing of our hands after visits to the bathroom and before eating and food preparation, it suggests it’s a good idea to also sanitize each time we exit public transportation, touch a cellphone, purse, table, elevator buttons, coffee pot, restaurant menu, and grocery store shopping cart. The article seems to make the case for sanitizing after virtually everything we touch during the day. Seems a bit much. When did we become such germophobes? Are we becoming a nation of Felix Ungers of “The Odd Couple’’?
Jeanne R. Walkauskas
Haverhill
