Dispelling misconceptions about hygiene and cleanliness
The public has a lot of misconceptions about cleanliness (absence of dirt) and its relationship to hygiene (preventing spread of infection). For example:
The terms “hygiene” and “cleanliness“ are used interchangeably to mean “absence of dirt, social acceptability, freshness” but also “infection prevention practices”.
People assume dirt is where germ threats are most likely.
People think if a surface looks clean it is also “germ protection” clean.
People think that if our home has been cleaned all the germs are eliminated.
People don’t distinguish between “aesthetic” cleaning i.e. making things look clean and “germ protection” cleaning i.e. hand hygiene, food hygiene, toilet hygiene etc.
Instead of saying “we have become obsessed with cleanliness”, it would be better to say “we have become afraid of getting dirty”.
We think of “germs” as disgusting and dangerous, but we often use this word to refer to any type of microbe - the good guys (our Old Friends) as well as the bad guys.
