New Solution Can Help 'Permanently Get Rid of Germs'

Monkey's Paw

Monkey's Paw?

As in the lesson that fate rules people's lives, and that those who interfere with it do so to their sorrow?

You're absolutely right, this is not the sort of product that should be applied to all clothing everywhere. Dirt (outdoor, garden, wild dirt) is good for you, especially kids, even the exposure to low levels of pathogens within a diverse community of dirt beasties.

But I can see the point of antimicrobial fabric in hospitals, which is where exposure and spread of little (or big?) nasties can lead to fatalities.

As with all antimicrobial treatments, the real question is, how long before the more nasty things become immune to it.

There is a danger in the "kills 99.9 %" business. The 99.9 killer creates an empty niche for superbug 0.1, which then has ample room in which to flourish. This applies to any environment, hospitals included, but in that case, they have to do the best they can because the entire bacterial niche is an onslaught of pathogens, instead of a balance of healthy flora.

"Permanent" = "temporary", anyway.

I agree with the others here that we need the good germs; but I also believe we need the bad germs because they keep our immune systems "fighting fit".

Are there some ultra bad guys we could do without? sure, the flesh eaters for example, although it would be better if our immune systems learned to handle them.

I have never quite understood the fact that we have hospitals that have people sick with germs and surgical people. Logic says that should have ended when germs became understood.