Bacterial Balance: Latex Gloves And Other Stuff

By Jen Long

Latex or nitrile gloves are mainstays in our fight against the spread of infection and in our promotion of wellness throughout medicine. Their use ranges from the simplest procedures in a wellness checkup to the complexities of the operating room. We have come to rely on the reassuring sound of a glove snapping into place on a health worker's hands before an exam, giving us confidence that both the health worker's and the patient's exposure risks are being reduced.

Not that long ago in our history, our understanding of illness blamed evil spirits or bad drains for bad health. Now the microscope has brought the rapidly proliferating world of microorganisms both to light and to the public's consciousness. And with this scientific awareness, there is a drive to eradicate the physical beasties we have discovered.

Of course, it is only natural that one's scalp should crawl when viewing the rapid colonization of certain bacteria under the microscope's magnification. It can be like watching an alien invasion, an idea that has not been overlooked or undercapitalized upon by household cleaning product marketers. Antibacterial compounds are present in everyday products on supermarket shelves, from dish soap to floor cleansers, touting promises of a better, healthier home. Latex gloves and protective masks are found on grocery store end caps and clinicians daily write prescriptions for the "pink stuff", simple antibiotics, for sniffley noses.

Now alarms are sounding thought out the scientific community that we have gone too far in our combat against bacteria. We have ended up compromising our immune systems in some cases, with our fixation on wiping out germs. The hygiene hypothesis is a line of thinking that has a growing following. It suggests that if we are not living with a proper balance of bacteria and microscopic life, we run the risk of autoimmune disorders, our immune systems becoming desperately out of whack. Some concerned parents have taken this message to heart and are deliberately encouraging their children to play in the dirt for the betterment of their health. (For a story on this, see the January 27, 2009 edition of www.nytimes.com.)

For some truly "live" entertainment and an opportunity to make even a very rational person's skin crawl, it is interesting to take a few short minutes with the video entitled "Our Skin is a Zoo" at www.science.tv. There is some risk that viewing this could drive a borderline case of OCD into hyper-drive but it is good to see what is considered within the range of normal on a clean and healthy person's body.

The video's unforgettable comment that "at any time there are as many bacteria on our skin as there are people on the earth", does give one pause. But , hopefully, that pause will lead to healthy acceptance and keep us focused on normal preventative hand washing, casting aside our antibacterial fixations.

About the Author:

Ms. Long has been a glove industry strategist for over thirty years. As Director of Web-Based Support for an online discounter of Disposable Gloves, she maintains an web resource for disposable glove consumers. Visit herlibrary, Coping with Latex Gloves.