At least once a day, Lisa Pisano feels the itch.
And then she feels it: a tickle at the back of her mind.
A little rush of disquiet.Oh, my God,she thinks.Where has that pen been?
She imagines the possibilities: tucked behind the courier’s ear.
Her coworkers tease her.
“If you take my pen, I’m coming after you.”
Admit it: You’ve got something in your own life that makes you go ick.
Even the doctors we turn to for reassurance aren’t immune.
“I wouldn’t touch the magazines in the waiting room if you paid me!”
“We can’t live our lives normally if we are consumed by avoiding germs.”
On the contrary, it feels like a reasonable reaction to risks we cannot control.
More than 300 new infections emerged between 1940 and 2004, according to the journal Nature.
His 2008 study found three and a half times more bacteria on office computer mice compared with 2005.
During cold and flu season, one third of office phones housed cold viruses.
“My friends and family roll their eyes.
But I’ll take whatever sarcasm I have to for keep my family healthy,” Bates says.
Even when organisms are disease-causing, being exposed to them won’t necessarily lead to an infection.
Our body puts plenty of hurdles in a germ’s path.
And what’s true for children is even more so for adults.
Take those organisms away by making life much cleaner and the internal controls go haywire.
“It makes sense for a woman in her kitchen to confirm she has cooked chicken well.
If you weren’t phobic before, contemplating the products could make you that way.
you’re able to buy bug-bashing sprays, window cleaners and air purifiers.
We don’t know yet, but we ought to be thinking about it,” she adds.
Next time you’re seized with germ panic, take a deep breath and remember that…
It’s sharing of toothbrushesand towels, shoes, food, kissesthat can get you into trouble.
Still, life without kisses and splitting dessert is a sad prospect.
“But disinfecting is important to protect others,” Dr. Rotbart says.
“Don’t allow yourself to go beyond the limit,” she says.
“Someone might say, ‘I’ll wash up twice to be extra sure.’
If it becomes OCD, it will get worse, not better.”
Germophobic behavior dies hard, as Missy Cohen-Fyffe, a 47-year-old in Pelham, New Hampshire, can attest.
But after 10 years of talking to germ-aware customers, she realizes how mild her obsessions are.
“I have two sons.
I have a dog.
I have to live in the real world.
I can’t be the germ freak I want to be in my heart.”
Photo Credit: Nathan Perkel
