For the Love of Germs

by Dan Schultz, DC

Every day I’m at the office about a hundred people breath in my face as I check their cervical spine (I’m a chiropractor).  I smile at them.  I like to shake people’s hands, too –- all kinds of people -- in the grocery store, at the dry cleaners, and at my daughter’s basketball games.  I rarely wash my hands afterward.  And, I don’t shower every day, either.

I’ll stop there before somebody calls to have me quarantined.

Should I be wearing a surgical mask to keep out all these germ-bearers’ disease-harboring bacterial flora? Should I ask them to keep their germs to their self?  May be I should wake up every morning and suit up in Mission Oriented Protection Posture gear (MOP suits)?  How much of a bubble should I be living in?

Nawww.  The fact is ... I love germs. 

Have a cold?  I’ll drink from your cup.  Mine runneth over.   We were the first to scurry our children across the street for a chicken pox party. I welcome germs for the very opportunity they are.

Am I a nut?   The medically indoctrinated/fixated usually think so.  However, the proof, as my grandfather used to say, is in the pudding (but the actual proverb goes "the proof of the pudding is in the eating and proof").

I haven’t had a cold or flu in 26 years. It was the fall of 1981. I’m afraid it’s true.  Am I superman?  I don’t think so.  I believe, to a significant degree, that my lack of fear for germs may be one of my best defenses.  May be we're all supermen and superwomen and fear is some kind of kryptonite. 

All the while, obsessive-compulsive, germophobia is nearing mass hysteria proportions in the United States.  Antibacterial soaps are best sellers at the supermarket.  Anti-septic wipes are everywhere. There’s a new $60 device out that sprays a hospital-grade disinfectant on doorknobs every 15 minutes.

We’re so clean that scientists now believe that the increase in asthma and allergies may be caused, in part, by too little germs, dust, and dander. Are "individuals are losing their bodily ability to fight off certain diseases" due to germophobia?
http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/1031002421.html
http://www.mercola.com/2002/jul/10/clean.htm

Is there any other evidence supporting the idea that germs may be good for you?  Actually, there is.

"The creation of a sterile environment through excessive cleanliness may potentially be harmful to the immune system."
Sherriff A, et al Arch Dis Child. 2002 Jul;87(1):26-9. Hygiene levels in a contemporary population cohort are associated with wheezing and atopic eczema in preschool infants.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12089117&dopt=Abstract

One of the central themes to Jared Diamond’s excellent treatise Guns, Germs and Steel (http://dannyreviews.com/h/Guns_Germs_Steel.html) was that civilizations effectively survived, flourished, and conquered by densely populating and sharing all their germs.  It matures and evolves the human immune system, it seems.

This study “consistently revealed a lower cancer risk for patients with a history of FICD (febrile infectious childhood diseases).
Albonico HU, et al  Med Hypothesis 1998 Oct; 51(4) 315-20 “Febrile Infectious Childhood Disease In The History Of Cancer Patients And Matched Controls”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9824838&dopt=Citation

But what about HIV?  I read Duesberg’s work and, whoa, he demonstrates that HIV doesn’t even cause AIDS.  The vast majority of AIDS patients were immune compromised from chronic use of recreational or prescription drugs (like AZT), or suffer from malnutrition.  It’s a good read.
http://www.virusmyth.net/aids/index/pduesberg.htm

One of the ironic and interesting things about germophobes is that they're often the ones who are sick most often. May be they have more germs than the rest of us?  I’ll take their germs, too, just to be kind.  And I'll continue to actively cultivate long-lasting health and vigor with a healthy lifestyle.

Got germs?  Bring’em on!  I look forward to meeting you and your germs some day.

Comments

[EC]

Did you have to have all your immunizations for chiropractic school?

What recourse is there for people who want to study medicine (such as PT, OT, etc.) and don't want to be vaccinated? There are laws that protect children, but what about adults? What about healthcare workers, and students applying to medical programs?