[Web4lib] CAN LIBRARIES BE SOURCE OF CONTAMINATION?

[Pons, Lisa (ponslm)]

Personal anecdote: 

My father was a virologist, and worked especially with the flu virus and
Aids viruses. He worked with Nobel Prize winners (including one who
developed polio vaccine). He said that over use of soaps and sanitizers
to destroy germs could (to somehwat oversimplify) result in superbugs,
as well as mutations. He did encourage us to wash our hands and such,
but, as you said in your statement, a little exposure was not
necessarily a bad thing.

FWIW...

Lisa Pons-Haitz
University of Cincinnati



> But, there are some who argue that trying too hard to live in 
> a germ free environment makes people more likely rather than 
> less likely to get sick because a person's body has no 
> opportunity to develop immunity by gradual exposure. An 
> example of this is the school/daycare experience. A child's 
> first year in daycare or school is usually full of minor 
> illnesses; then it slows or stops because the child has 
> developed immunities to the common "germs". Here is an 
> article that covers this topic relating to children and 
> allergies- 
> http://www.usc.edu/hsc/info/pr/hmm/00-01winter/germs.html . I 
> have read loads of material over the years presenting this 
> view point with regard to living in general. Does anyone have 
> better access to journal articles about this?
>