CLEANLINESS

 Why do I have to wash my hands to eat?  My dear mother, God rest her soul, would often say, "Cleanliness is next to Godliness.  You could get sick."   It occurs to me that many young people don't really know what cleanliness is all about in this time of pandemic.  Okay, school is in session.

First, let's pretend you are in chemistry class.  Here are the terms you need to know for the final exam.  There is dirt.  There is soil.  There is mud.  There are germs.  There are bacteria.  There are virus.  There is water.  There is soap.  There is anti-bacterial soap.  There is benzalkonium chloride.  There is sanitizer.  There is alcohol, ethyl-alcohol or ethanol.  There is 1-isopropanol, 1-propanol and methanol.  (That's a lot of '-nols!)  There is lather.  There is vigorous.  There is time.  There is 99%, 99.9% and 99.99%.  (It seems there is no 100%)  There is toxic and non-toxic. 

Now we're going to anatomy class.  The human body is covered with skin except for special openings.  The skin protects and keeps our guts from falling out.  It also allows some minute things to enter and exit - like sweat. The openings are used to allow for necessary things to enter or exit the body.  The mouth - food and air to enter or exit.  The nose for air to enter and exit and sinus secretions to exit. The eyes are for light to enter.  The ears for sound to enter - you get the picture, I'm going no further.  For the final exam, be able to name ALL of the openings and their purpose.

Now we're going to med school to study immunology.  It has to do with our ability to fight off bad things which might get into our body through one of those openings.  Those bad things can be germs, bacteria or virus or other airborne contaminants or poison or spoiled chicken (of course, there are many more).  The body is smart.  We start with the immune system of our mother.  Every time something bad enters us, our body works to get rid of it.  Every time that happens, it remembers for the next time.  This fight in our body to get rid of the bad things is done by our immune system.  All those childhood maladies and diseases only strike us once because our body remembers how to get rid of the cause.  Some real nasty things, like virus, sneak past our immune system by changing slightly so it doesn't recognize them.  

Now here's the problem with teaching kids about what you are learning here. Germs, including both bacteria and virus (BV) are so small you can't see them.. Kids can't relate to something they can't see (except the boogie man).  Dirt could be bad -because it could be made out of anything.  Soil and mud are usually not that bad except that BV can live almost anywhere for a time.  BV need a good atmosphere to survive for long.  They look for warm temperatures and moist locations.  They can't live for long on inanimate surfaces.  Soaps can wash away any of the BV on the skin if done properly - hot water, vigorous action producing lather for an extended time.  Sanitizers are made of ethanol (ethyl alcohol) and are good at killing bacteria.  Virus are another thing - they are tough and our immune system must be up to snuff to negate them.  The people who make anti-bacterial soap and hand sanitizer are big on showing their percent of effectiveness - its either 99%, 99.9% or 99.99%.  There's not a wit of difference between them.  Speaking of percents,  one popular anti-bacterial soap label shows that their product contains only 0.13% of the active ingredient (benzalkonium chloride).

So, the bad guys are germs - bacteria and virus (BV) among others.  They sneak into our bodies through those openings - principally the mouth, eyes and nose.  Once inside, our immune system tries to figure out what to do with them.  If they recognize them from a previous infestation, they can probably do some good to knock them out.  That's why we get inoculations for the flu and other diseases - so our immune system remembers them and can defeat them.   How they get into our body in the first place could be by breathing air which contains a BV expelled by another person through coughing or sneezing.  The other major method is from our hands contacting a BV on a surface and then putting our hands in or near our mouth, eyes or nose.  

This leads us to the recommendation of wearing a mask and keeping your distance.  Remember these things:  One of the major means of acquiring a virus is by breathing air into which someone with the virus has coughed or sneezed.  Coughing and sneezing can spread the virus six feet or more.  Just breathing puts out little if any virus.  The second means of acquiring a virus is through hand contact of a surface containing it.  Well, virus don't live long on inanimate surfaces so this is a minor issue.  As for dirty hands at the dinner table:  it's not very dangerous but it is borderline disgusting.   

Wear your mask, especially if you are coughing or sneezing.  Remember that a clean mask is a happy mask.  Clean your hands regularly with soap and water but don't overdo the hand sanitizer.  Eat some dirt or soil once in a while just to keep your immune system sharp. 

I'm sorry, have your eyes glazed over?   I just noticed that I've exceeded the maximum length entry my children will allow.  I think they caught the famous 'short attention span' disease - probably caused by a congenital germ.  Sadly, they were not allowed to eat dirt - mean mother.   

If any part of this was inaccurate . . . it doesn't surprise me.   Smile - it makes you and everyone else feel better.