Disinfecting could make you sick

Posted on 28. Feb, 2010 by in Household, How to Get Started

By KIM KNIGHT – Sunday Star Times

Advertisers cashing in on a newly germ-phobic nation may be doing more harm than good, say public health officials.

“We don’t live in a sterile world and nor should we endeavour to do so,” said Greg Simmons, Ministry of Health chief adviser for population health.

At the height of swine flu panic, up to 10% of primetime television advertising featured disinfectants and sanitisers. According to the ads, everything from telephone receivers to children were potentially seething masses of germs.

But products promising to rid homes of “99.9% of bacteria” could actually be exposing us to nastier bugs, said Simmons.

“Humans are absolutely covered in bacteria – millions and millions of them. The gut is full of them, the skin is covered in them, and they are a cocktail of what we would call benevolent microbes.”

Simmons said the “vast majority” were harmless.

“And many do good by occupying an ecological niche that stops pathogens – the ones that can cause illness – from moving in to infect the gut or skin. They have a barrier effect.

“The bottom line is that a little bit of dirt didn’t really hurt anyone,” said Simmons. “Routinely reducing the number of germs or microbes in the general environment makes little sense.”

Research showed children who were exposed to “rough and tumble and a lot of germs and daycare settings” had a reduced risk of developing asthma and some allergies.

“It’s as if the immune system needs some stimulation early on.”

He did, however, sound a warning about hand-washing, saying the significance of hand transmission of viruses had been under- estimated by the public. In homes where people were ill with any form of influenza (including swine flu), or had symptoms like vomiting or diarrhoea, good hygiene was crucial – patients should also be isolated from other people and kept well away from food preparation areas. High traffic areas, such as bathrooms, should be disinfected.

Ordinary household bleach, said Simmons, was just as effective as some more expensive products. “And we’re not recommending that on a daily basis, only for these high-risk times and in high-risk settings.”

He said recent television advertising reflected international trends. “There’s a move to this type of advertising in the developed world. I wouldn’t say we’re overboard; New Zealanders are fairly level-headed.”

Anecdotally, the Sunday Star- Times has been told of people avoiding public toilets – or opening doors with their feet or elbows – and using sterile wipes before touching supermarket trolleys. One Dunedin store has been forced to put up a sign in the women’s toilets telling customers not to “insulate” seats with excessive paper, as it was blocking plumbing.

Otago University senior lecturer in social anthropology Ruth Fitzgerald said it wasn’t just swine-flu fear that had turned Kiwis germ- phobic. Social reforms and the breakdown of wider communities had encouraged individuals to become more self-reliant.

“It’s up to us to control this hostile world . . . Bacterial wipes and other technologies for making our homes clean give you a sense of control . . . We can attain the moral high ground and reassure ourselves in an increasingly alienated and slightly dangerous world.”

She said we were selective about how we applied that philosophy: “We know we’re teeming with colonies of bacteria and we seem to do some things – like kissing – where we don’t mind exchanging bacteria, but we’re really worried about touching supermarket trolleys.”

HAND HYGIENE

* Wash with soap and water for 20 seconds – the average Kiwi washes for only nine seconds.

* Dry for 20 seconds, preferably with two disposable paper towels – wet hands are more likely to pick up microbes than unwashed hands.

* A 2006 survey found one in five Kiwi men, and one in 10 women, didn’t wash their hands after going to the toilet.