[pct-l] Handshakes

[Fred Walters]

(I am not medically qualified so this is my personal opinion/experience)

I tend to agree though wonder in the most important impacts are in earlier
life.  I think that modern living where constant adverts fom cleaning
product manufacturers keep encouraging parents to keep their houses 110%
clear of any bugs (at least in the UK we are continually bombarded on TV
with such ads).  Keep disinfecting every surface, keep kids away from
illness, etc.  When I was a child, and another kid in the area got ill,
parents would phone round and take their own kids to play with the ill
child (e.g. mumps, Measles, etc.).  We played outside (eating worms, etc.)
doing all sorts of things that would have modern day parents frantic and we
survived.  These days with such playing in mud, etc. discouraged and living
in sealed filtered disinfected environments as well as talking to friends
over computers from centrally heated rooms rather than going outside and
meeting face to face seems to correlate with big increased susceptibility
to catching bugs.

Whilst it is true that I've not been ill for years (in 40 years of working
I've had maybe 2 days off sick), that is just "anecdotal".  However, the
modern trend to over isolation logically seems to fit with a less capable
immune system.  Add to that that children learn from their parents and
where parents are obsessive about disinfection, that behaviour is likely to
be passed on the the children, etc.

Bugs mutate but still share similarities with the mutated form.  So, if you
are e.g. exposed to flu one year your immune system learns.  Next years flu
will be different but still share similarities so your previous exposure
helps fight the new form.  However, stay isolated for 5 years and the bug
has mutated quite a lot more and has fewer similarities so your immune
system is less capable.

However, I suspect that people with a love of countryside and hiking (and
thus most people hiking on the PCT) will not have had such disinfected
childhood so would probably be more capable of handling bugs (either
through fighting off before suffering, or faster recovery).

(Above is not advice but personal opinion)

On Feb 8, 2012, at 14:13 :35PST, Andrea Dinsmore wrote:
>
> You guys are a bunch of wimps. Think how many dirty, smelly bacteria
> covered hikers every trail angel hugs each year. We don't seem to get sick
> very often. How many people in the city do you touch or breath on ?? How
> many germy people can you squish into an elevator. How many door knobs do
> you touch every day that hundreds of others have touch before you ?? I bet
> you will have less "germs" on your body by the time you get off the trail
> than when you got on. If you can't handle the though of shaking someones
> hand out here.......pack a big can of Lysol.
>
> PCT MOM..............hugs every hiker.
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 1:39 PM, Eric Lee <saintgimp at hotmail.com> wrote:
> Michael wrote:
> >
> However, I'm going to have to say that being on the trail for weeks on end,
> passing of bacteria or viruses is not going to be much of an issue, because
> you'll touch your clothing (especially since you're just bringing one set
> to
> go light), your own skin, rocks, dirt, water, etc.  Seriously, I wouldn't
> worry about it.
> >
>
> The issue isn't *all* germs, but rather picking up new germs that aren't
> already part of your balanced ecosystem of germs; in particular, new
> fecal-borne germs that you don't already have.  Those are the ones that
> upset the balance and make you sick.  I don't have references available at
> the moment but my understanding is that a lot of illnesses that people
> blame
> on bad water are actually caused by bad fecal matter picked up from other
> people via handshakes, dipping into each other's gorp bags, etc.
>
> Eric
>
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