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Comment by burnished | Hacker News Reader

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I believe that my bathroom and everything in it is full of germs; I also believe that my body has been perfectly able to deal with those germs for the last 40 years, as I don't really get sick besides the yearly-or-so cold or flu.

Taking my toothbrush out of the bathroom for the fist time at this point in my life because of "the germs" would be paranoid behaviour, in my opinion. It's not that there aren't germs, it's that they've always been there and I'm still here and healthy.

I don't really understand what you are getting at. Why is it relevant that you don't feel concerned about spaces contaminated by the germs you personally brought? Of course you don't.

I also don't understand what your toothbrush has to do with this. Please try considering this from the perspective of establishing practice for a bathroom shared by more than one individual: its probably important to know if closing the lid is an effective hygiene technique or not.

Why would you assume that I deny germ theory? What in my comment would lead you to this opinion, other than assuming the worst possible interpretation of my position?

Did you expect my answer to be 'yes'? Genuinely curious about what you're trying to get at.

Because you stated that this line of thinking was paranoia? Which is at odds with germ theory? Because it isn't paranoia to note that a sick person using the bathroom could spread disease even if they close the lid of the toilette.

I didn't deny that a sick person can spread disease in that situation, or any others. I'm making a point about the safety trafeoffs and risk tolerance. We can't be 100% safe all the time, and this includes our relationship with germs and the microbial world.

No, you're not, because tradeoffs and risk tolerances isnt meet for the paper. The paper is about the practice of closing the lid, that it is ineffective, and suggests surface sanitation as the alternative. It seems that people get triggered by the topic though and read in both a command and moral judgement to get offended at.

Conversely what are your feelings about Hygiene Hypothesis?

I'm not sure about it honestly, its not like a crazy theory or anything but it could also be an example of the perennial 'The thing that makes this generation evil is...'. I havent actually read anything serious on it though so I have more like a careful absence of feeling on the topic.

Yes, paranoia. You have about as many nonhuman cells in you as human cells. It’s hard to count. The would around you is full of microscopic life. You are absolutely covered in it.

Your immune system did not evolve to function in a sterile bubble. Some people were traumatized as children to be so afraid of microorganisms that they make ridiculous decisions.

The biggest culprit of foodbourne illness is sick cooks with poor hygiene. Not the failure to bleach every surface in your bathroom every time someone flushes the toilet. Oversterilization is a strong suspect in many sources of disease.

> The biggest culprit of foodbourne illness is sick cooks with poor hygiene

This study suggests ways to prevent those cooks from becoming sick

It goes much further than that, and insinuates that one ought to manually disinfect all surfaces in the bathroom after flushing the toilet.

...as an alternative to closing the lid, which was the hygiene practice they determined was not effective.

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