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Germaphobes: Just Forget About It, Everything's Covered In Shit
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leftcoaster
09/30/09

In reply to Germaphobes: Just Forget About It, Everything's Covered In Shit
OK, this might be a dumb question, but how do things get covered in shit in the first place? When I go to the bathroom, even - or perhaps especially - when I take an enormous dump, there's toilet paper between my hand and the fecal material. The poop exits my body and goes straight down the toilet. I don't stop to smear it about the place, on doorknobs and handles to lie in wait for the next unsuspecting bathroom patron. Same thing when I'm changing my baby's diaper - there's always a nice thick antiseptic wipe between my hand and the poop.

Top this off with a thorough hand washing, and it seems like the chances of spreading feces about the place is pretty slim. So how is it that the entire world is coated in a microscopic poop film?
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sfikus
09/30/09

@leftcoaster: The nice gentlemen on Mythbusters devoted a segment to discerning the existence fecal coliform on your toothbrush. The general thought was that the flushing of the toilet sprayed gross germy germ-germs all over the bathroom. Lock up the children! Or, at least lock up your toothbrush.

What they found, tho, was that the isolated brushes - kept locked in a room without a toilet - also managed to culture the dreaded germs on them.

The upshot? If you think it through, the human body, while mostly so, is not an entirely non-permeable system. While we all like to think that poop is a product that magically exists only when deposited in the appropriate receptacle, it's actually an amalgam of a great many things, all of which spend a lot of time circulating in various forms and amounts throughout the body until they're collected and processed in the GI. Those parts exist in your mouth, in your nose, and on your skin before, during, after, and completely outside of the digestive process.

Bacteria exist within and without of the body. They're there. Yours generally won't make you sick. It's the sharing of others' that could possibly, but most often don't.

Flu season brings the advent of the more scurrilous forms of bacteria and virus. Flu season also works so magically well because we're all inside more, in places hermetically sealed against the environment in the Fall/Winter/Spring.

The best defense is the simplest -

1) wash your hands, regularly and thoroughly

2) keep your hands out of your eyes, nose, mouth, and ears

The majority of risk is mitigated in those 2 simple steps.
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HereComesMyBaby
10/01/09

@sfikus: But I love touching my face! And you can't stop me! Waaaah.
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EKane
09/30/09

In reply to Germaphobes: Just Forget About It, Everything's Covered In Shit
My university is currently entertaining all germaphobes by having lysol wipes and touchless foam hand sanitizer dispensers in the student center. I love it... college students are notoriously stupid about hygiene and come to class 70% cured of the flu.
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JerseyGrrrl
09/30/09

@EKane: Oh, Touchless foam hand sanitizer, how I love you.
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Snowbunny
09/30/09

@EKane: We had a clause added to all of our syllabi (uses?) about if we get SWINE FLU we are absolutely verboten from coming to school and it won't negatively affect up in any way. That sounds so nice. Maybe they should have had it every other semester when I got strep throat or flu and had to come to class and take practicals and exams and notes because missing class was the devil and you would burn in C- hell if you did so.
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valhalla_i_am_coming
09/30/09

In reply to Germaphobes: Just Forget About It, Everything's Covered In Shit
Well, that does it...I'm wearing an "astronaut diaper" the next time I travel by plane.
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judgingamy
09/30/09

In reply to Germaphobes: Just Forget About It, Everything's Covered In Shit
What the fuck is this MRSA stuff? Is it like Morgellons? I'm scared.
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Lymed
09/30/09

@judgingnora: It is nothing like Morgellons. MRSA stands for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. It is bacteria that is resistant to many antibiotics and therefore more difficult to treat. It can be deadly if not diagnosed and treated, but there are antibiotics that can treat it....of course, there will one day be bacteria resistant to the new antibiotics.
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yasaman
09/30/09

In reply to Germaphobes: Just Forget About It, Everything's Covered In Shit
I am one of those people who brags about my immune system and only washes my hands after going to the bathroom, before food preparation, etc. I'm sure most things I touch are cesspools of contagion, but I only get a cold once a year or so, so eh.

Fun factoid though: brass, which many door handles and bathroom fixtures are made of, is germicidal. Brass doorknobs apparently disinfect themselves within eight hours. So, y'know, one less thing to worry about.
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meritxell: an erotic life
09/30/09

@yasaman: Yeah, this is also me. But I seriously never get sick! I just think there are more things to worry about than the invisible squalor that inevitably surrounds us.
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Edited by meritxell: an erotic life at 09/30/09 5:27 PM

emfish55
09/30/09

In reply to Germaphobes: Just Forget About It, Everything's Covered In Shit
I agree that it's just good practice (for your own sake and for everyone else's) to wash your hands. But my takeaway from the article is not "Ew, people are disgusting and world is gross and we're all going to get swine flu!" I don't really relish thinking about it, but if you accept that germs are a fact of life, are naturally occurring, and humans have been rolling around in them for all of history, I find it easier to get over the ick factor. Germ phobias make it harder to live in the world, and germ phobics have a nasty habit of trying to shame others for being "dirty". We're all dirty, even people who compulsively Purell. As long as we keep it at bay with regular showering and reasonable hand washing, I'm ok with it.
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labeled
09/30/09

In reply to Germaphobes: Just Forget About It, Everything's Covered In Shit
Germs don't freak me out too much, but I read a sentence once that changed me forever:

Scents are particulate. Think about that the next time you're in a public restroom. Par-tic-u-late.
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NellMood
09/30/09

@labeled: WHAT.
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Zombie Ms. Skittles
09/30/09

@labeled: OH GOD! That got me too. I read it in a Star Wars book, of all places.

It completely ruined my life. Thanks, George Lucas.
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Aesop's Foibles. YES.
09/30/09

@labeled: So I'm inhaling poop? Is that what you're telling me? And when I go into a stall immediately after a woman exits, and said woman obviously does not regularly wash her bits, I am inhaling her rank vagina??? IS THIS WHAT YOU'RE TELLING ME???

I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU.
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valhalla_i_am_coming
09/30/09

@labeled: Time to snort the Purell.
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BabyJane
09/30/09

@labeled: Excuse me for a moment- I have to go build a time machine so that I can go back to yesterday, when I didn't know this.
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labeled
09/30/09

@all: It's like a song-virus, isn't it? You will now tell everyone you know that smells are particulate. Par-tic-u-late. If you're lucky, they won't know what the word means and you can go into further horrible detail. Yes, I know.

But I couldn't have that knowledge and not dump it on your laps. I'm sorry.
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BabyJane
09/30/09

@labeled: Heh. Dump it.
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Edited by BabyJane at 09/30/09 5:32 PM BabyJane was starred BabyJane was unstarred

labeled
09/30/09

@BabyJane: heh. heheheheheh.
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Anathema Device
09/30/09

@labeled: Mostly what makes your poop smell are gases that are produced by bacteria degrading the undigested food in your gut--e.g. methyl mercaptan and hydrogen sulfide. So most of the smell IS particulate, in the sense that molecules are particles. (And yeah, probably some tiny bits of doody.)
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Brigit
09/30/09

@labeled: Well of course. When you smell you are just being a molecule detector. Different molecules bind to odorant receptors. These receptors are located within your nose, in the membrane of olfactory receptor neurons. They get activated by the "smell" and then start a signaling cascade that ends with the info getting sent to your brain.
Each receptor can bind to a variety of odorant molecules, and there are at least 400 genes that code for olfactory receptors.
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labeled
09/30/09

@Anathema Device & Brigit: Yup, and yup. And to me it all boils down to... Par-tic-u-late.
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Aesop's Foibles. YES.
09/30/09

@Anathema Device: Thanks. Thanks a lot. You had me going there with your interesting sciency stuff, and then BAM. Doody bits.

Good day to you, madam.
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Anathema Device
09/30/09

@labeled: I just prefer to think of public restrooms as half-full of stinky gases rather than half-full of poo particles. It's all the optimism I can handle.
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Brigit
09/30/09

@Anathema Device: Makes working with Beta-mercaptoethanol a very charming experience. One spill and I smelled like poop and rotten eggs for the day...
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pesematology
09/30/09

In reply to Germaphobes: Just Forget About It, Everything's Covered In Shit
"Fecal organisms"? I don't think my lab has a vial of those yet. Pray tell, does New England Biolabs carry them?
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Brigit
09/30/09

@pesematology: Well they probs sell e.coli, but I bet they are BL21(DE3) lines, hehe.
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clevernamehere
09/30/09

In reply to Germaphobes: Just Forget About It, Everything's Covered In Shit
I'm mildly germ phobic. I cringe when people cough next to me and wash my hand after getting of the subway.

Poo isn't really what I'm worried about, even though my doctor said I might have gotten pink eye from holding the pole on the subway. I'm more concerned about infectious disease.
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Zombie Ms. Skittles
09/30/09

@clevernamehere: Pink eye is what finally germaphobed me. I kept getting it every year and sometimes multiple times a year, but this last time it was for TWO MONTHS and I kept getting antibiotics and it wouldn't go away and then I finally got referred to a specialist and had to go on actual pills and super high density eye drops to finally clear the infection up. It was terrible and I am never doing it again, and if that means I'm going to be carrying around a bottle of Purell and opening the door with rubber gloves from now on, so be it.
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JerseyGrrrl
09/30/09

If that means I'm going to be carrying around a bottle of Purell and opening the door with rubber gloves from now on, so be it.

@Zombie Ms. Skittles: I've lived this way for years. You'll adapt quickly :) I'm the person who'd rather fall over than touch the subway pole. The person who takes a plastic vegetable bag at the grocery store and uses it to cover the handle of her shopping cart. Germophobia invites creativity.
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Ultraprison!
09/30/09

In reply to Germaphobes: Just Forget About It, Everything's Covered In Shit
I'm not a germaphobe, but I found out about the "your toilet sprays your poo everywhere when you flush" thing at a young age, and since then I've been pretty conscientious about putting the lid down before I push the lever.

I tried to explain it to my boyfriend, and since then "poo molecules" has become our phrase for germs.
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lastsinglestanding
09/30/09

@Ultraprison!: Uhhh ... I don't know how to tell you this, but the poo just sprays everywhere when you later lift the toilet lid. Maybe not as far as if you didn't close the lid, but still. There is no escaping the poo molecules.
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Edited by lastsinglestanding at 09/30/09 5:15 PM lastsinglestanding was starred

missing_piece
09/30/09

@lastsinglestanding: So what you're saying is, one cannot contain the poo dots/molecules/microshitballs?

They will not be held down by The Man. Literally.
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lastsinglestanding
09/30/09

@missing_piece: Fly high, little poo bits.
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missing_piece
09/30/09

@lastsinglestanding: Born freeeeeeee....
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CollegeCamel
09/30/09

In reply to Germaphobes: Just Forget About It, Everything's Covered In Shit
I am not a Germaphobe. I am, however, a Port-o-Pottie-phobe. Think about it...they're small, poorly ventilated boxes with a HUGE pile of HUMAN SHIT stewing in the bottom of them!

I haven't used one in years.
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missing_piece
09/30/09

In reply to Germaphobes: Just Forget About It, Everything's Covered In Shit
Am I the only one who thinks it looks like that person is texting, "Hey idiot"?

It is just me? Ok then.
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Zombie Ms. Skittles promoted this comment Edited by missing_piece at 09/30/09 5:06 PM missing_piece was starred missing_piece was unstarred

Zombie Ms. Skittles
09/30/09

@missing_piece: No, that's totally what they're texting. Awesome.
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Aesop's Foibles. YES.
09/30/09

In reply to Germaphobes: Just Forget About It, Everything's Covered In Shit
Oh God. I hate this stuff. MRSA?? Are you kidding me? It's everywhere and it can straight up KILL you. I wash my hands, I avoid door handles and shopping carts, I carry sanitizer for after using a gas pump (EW) and all of that. I even take the bath mat off the floor in my own bathroom when I'm done in there because I don't want shoes touching where my clean feet are going to go. So my phobia and fear of sickness is no longer limited to the world outside my home, isn't that great?! Yay Health Awareness!!!

*cries*
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BabyJane
09/30/09

@Aesop's Foibles. YES.: I would wear a Hazmat suit to shop at Costco if I could. I'm not overly creeped out by germs, but that place does me in.
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Lizard in the Wires - synthesizer signals suspense!
09/30/09

In reply to Germaphobes: Just Forget About It, Everything's Covered In Shit
Whenever I see these sorts of things I'm always so glad I'm not weird about germs.

Don't get me wrong, I don't like thing to be dirty, but I'll eat something if it fell on the floor. Hell, I've eaten cheesecake that fell on the floor (while drunk).

And of the 6% of offices found to have MRSA how many people were actually infected with it?

If one is going to be paranoid I'd rather air on the side of building up my immune system for the coming pandemic then freak out about door handles.

I wash my hands, and cover my mouth (with my elbow no less) when I cough and sneeze. At least to me evils of chemicals = evil of germs.
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Lymed promoted this comment Edited by Lizard in the Wires - synthesizer signals suspense! at 09/30/09 5:03 PM

Lymed
09/30/09

@Lizard in the Wires is on Rails: If only my cat would cover her mouth when she sneezes. I swear I'll be the first person to contract feline flu.
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NellMood
09/30/09

@Lymed: Tell her to sneeze into her elbow, though, not her paws. Elmo and Kathleen Sebelius can show her how.
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Zombie Ms. Skittles
09/30/09

@Lizard in the Wires is on Rails: Oh well, if you're drunk then the alcohol kills the germs so you're okay.
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Benevolent_Dictatrix (patently absurd)
09/30/09

@Lizard in the Wires is on Rails: Ditto. I hear this stuff like the world is covered in poo and I just don't care. Obviously said poo is not hurting me, so why freak out? You are much more likely to get e. coli from contaminated food than a bathroom doorknob.
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labeled
09/30/09

@Lizard in the Wires is on Rails: Also, as I found out when my son had MRSA, most of us carry it naturally, but only some of us are susceptible to becoming infected.
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Lymed
09/30/09

In reply to Germaphobes: Just Forget About It, Everything's Covered In Shit
Our bodies are actually designed to be exposed to germs. Most of the time, they don't make us sick. If we get exposed, we create antibodies. Mothers can pass antibodies onto their children.

Our immune systems are generally really freaking awesome things.
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Cesybabe or Nirvanah Crane
09/30/09

@Lymed: Thank you. Everytime those anti-bacterial wipes/sprays/lotions ads come on tv, I have a habit of throwing things, and yelling 'We're meant to be exposed to germs! Go lick a pole!'. Luckily, where I am, there is an ad campaign aiming to get kids outside and get dirty, so thats one way of exposing kids to germs.

Those anti-bacterial gels are only appropriate in some situations, such as when I had the worst case of pink eye the student health had ever seen, I antibacterial gelled like never before. Also, while working in food service, after washing my hands. Seriously, most of its in our heads, we need to get over it.
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Cesybabe or Nirvanah Crane
09/30/09

@Cesybabe or Nirvanah Crane: But washing hands is key. Wash your hands all the time!
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Lymed
09/30/09

@Cesybabe or Nirvanah Crane: And people forget: anti-bacterial means anti-bacterial. Not anti-viral. I love this "OMG swine flu! Lets cover our hands in gel that doesn't kill viruses!"
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