Why we may be too clean for our own health
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The Dirt on Cleanliness
Why we may be too clean for our own health
by Ellen Mazo and The Editors of Prevention Health Books
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(Oct. 2, 2006) -- Our zeal for cleanliness may, in fact, be the reason for the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. When we use antibacterial products that kill most of the harmful bacteria, we're also eliminating more than one-third of the good, resident bacteria vital to the health of our skin.
"The hard part to get across is that a little dirt is a good thing," says Stuart B. Levy, M.D., director of the Center for Adaptation Genetics and Drug Resistance at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. "You should wash after normal activities, where you come in contact with microbes and dirt, especially before you eat. But you don't have to clean every 5 to 10 minutes."
We've become so obsessed with cleanliness that we seem to sterilize everything in our paths with products that contain antibacterial agents such as the chemical triclosan. The problem is that triclosan may be a culprit in the creation of superbugs--bacteria that have changed so much that they can no longer be killed off by anything.
In a study at Tufts University, Dr. Levy found five strains of Escherichia coli, or E. coli, that are immune to triclosan. Triclosan kills off most of the normal bacteria (95 percent), but a few bacteria have mutations that enable them to resist triclosan. These bacteria don't get killed; they reproduce. Although the number of mutations per generation is very small, bacteria reproduce quickly, so many mutations can occur in a short time. The 5% of each population that survives triclosan will result in mutations that are better and better at resisting the effects of the chemical. If these mutants are also resistant to antibiotics, you've got superbugs.
When he served as president of the American Society for Microbiology, Dr. Levy organized a symposium that was designed to educate people about the good of bacteria. "Little did I know that this cleanliness craze was going to get out of hand. We need bacteria. If we destroy them, we're going to destroy ourselves," he cautions.
Take a look at the soaps and cleansers in your kitchen and bathroom. Most of the labels are probably screaming "antibacterial" at you. Check out the cleaning sprays for countertops, hand soap, laundry and dishwasher detergents, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and cosmetics. Even your children's plastic toys and the plastic utensils we put in our picnic baskets are impregnated with triclosan. There are more than 700 products made with antibacterial agents. This widespread use ultimately could mean that antibacterials will become ineffective when we really need them, warns Dr. Levy.
We need antibacterial products in hospitals and in the homes of people who have low immunity, acknowledges Dr. Levy. "When I send a patient home, I will often tell her to use an antibacterial cleaner until her condition is healed. I will say that she should cleanse with it for minutes, not seconds. But when I find out she has been using that same antibacterial product casually in the home, I worry whether it will do any good " he says. "Bacteria have likely already been selected that resist it."
To stay clean and to do your part in keeping superbugs from taking over, Dr. Levy recommends using fast-acting non-residues for cleaning: bleaches, peroxides, alcohols, and the traditional soap and water. And when you do wash your hands, wash them thoroughly for 15 to 30 seconds with plain soap and water.
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Reprinted from The Immune Advantage by Ellen Mazo and The Editors of Prevention Health Books, © 2002. Permission granted by Rodale Books. Available wherever books are sold.
