A year without germs!

In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, especially during last year, we witnessed how sales of medical disinfectants and sterilizers increased dramatically and even demand for hand sanitizers rose by perhaps more than 500 per cent. However, it is clear that a lot of alcohol accompanying these sterilizers went into our skin, where it dissolves - I would say - quickly most viruses, bacteria and fungi that it encounters.

Interestingly, in another way how this massive increase in personal sterilization, along with many other habits to curb microbes - including wearing a face mask and physical distancing - may call into question the extent of ‘collateral damage’ to our immune system.

Without a doubt, the destruction of the coronavirus (Covid-19) is of utmost importance. As such the virus has led to death of millions of people with the pandemic claiming tens of thousands every week. At the same time, the majority of the trillions of microbes that inhabit the skin and gut - collectively, we call them our microbiome - are either harmless or beneficial. What I mean here is that among their other roles, somehow these organisms interact with immune cells in our skin and teach them to respond only to dangerous threats. Moreover, this microbiome of each of us is in a state of constant low flux depending on our environment, the people around us, the food we eat and the soap we use! Perhaps many of our daily life patterns have changed dramatically over the past year as a result of the intense focus on hygiene and sterilization, and thus it is almost certain that this has had fundamental impacts on this diversity of our microbiome.

We are all aware of how the coronavirus and its pandemic have made an experiment that is still ongoing, which completely changes our behaviours. So, here we are when we did, we changed our exposure to these microbes: you don't embrace and kiss people now and mostly you spend more time at home. Owing to the remarkable fact that many of us practised sterilization at home, I have good reason to believe that the radical changes in hygiene and sterilization behaviours must have affected our microbes, especially to young children.

On the other hand, with these sterilization practices, especially the excessive ones, it is clear that we have broken the chains of transmission of all kinds of pathogens that cause diseases, including cold and influenza viruses. It has been more than a year since many people have reported that they had a cold, despite many of them used to catch it all the time even if some individuals are very careful. It is definitely not good to have frequent cold, but we should be grateful for the recent drop in these infections. Maybe, the most interesting question we could ask here is, whether you have lost contact with other more beneficial microbes along with it? I Can't remember the last time I shook someone's hand. Wherever it was, it was probably the last time ever!

In fact, some studies have confirmed that the damage caused to such microbes in our bodies and the use of sterilization may not be permanent. This means that your microbial diversity may be reduced, but that it stays with you. For example, a diet high in fiber brings that diversity back again. Of course, instead of following a diet based on sugar and white flour, try eating more nuts and legumes, for instance.

Perhaps the constant challenge for individuals is to avoid binary thinking about our microbes: it is not just good or bad. To some extent, we noticed how everything can be exaggerated and this includes sterilizing things. Should we not instead make desired hygiene the goal; we better really focus on tried and true methods of preventing disease transmission! Perhaps I could say here that hand sanitizer might be a miracle during such outbreak. However, this does not mean that you should shower in it!

Dr.Yousuf Ali Al mulla . A physician, medical innovator and writer. For any queries regarding the contents of this article, can be contacted at: dryusufalmulla@gmail.com.