What’s worse than spreading a disease? Not even realizing when you’re doing it.
Unfortunately, it happens more often than most people think because of simple, everyday behaviors that may seem harmless.
Dr. Bruce Hirsch, MD, an attending physician of infectious diseases at Northwell Health, teveals the super common habits that make him squirm because of their likelihood to spread pathogens.
And while they’re a bad move for anyone, he warns that they’re especially risky for people who are more vulnerable to illness, like those with weakened immune systems and delicate GI tracts.
1. Not washing hands properly before handling food
Washing one’s hands might not come as a surprise, but it’s not just about getting rid of dirt.
The bigger concern is the bacteria you may be carrying without even knowing it. Hirsch explained that while many of those germs don’t make you sick, they can be harmful to someone else.
“Often, a lot of us are colonized with bacteria that we’re getting along with fine but can cause illness in other people,” he told The Post. “If a person is colonized with potentially dangerous bacteria, then that becomes a real issue. Sometimes, it’s not just the bacteria, it’s what the bacteria are doing.”
The fix is simple: Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and running water, creating friction by rubbing them together for at least 10 seconds before rinsing.
And don’t stop there. Hirsch said it’s important to dry your hands with a towel or hand dryer rather than just shaking off the water.
2. Improper sneezing technique
Everybody sneezes. The problem is where those sneezes land.
Many people instinctively sneeze into their hands, which can quickly spread germs to everything they touch afterwards. But your elbow is actually the safest target, Hirsch said.
“You’re supposed to put all the sneeze right in there so that it impacts a spot that never will touch anybody else or anything around you,” he explained.
He advises achooing right inside the bend of the elbow, pulling up your arm and turning away from anyone nearby.
“That way, you’re not putting all this stuff on your hands, which manipulates the area around you,” said Hirsch.
3. Overusing alcohol sanitizer
You can be too clean for your own good.
While hand sanitizer has its place, Hirsch says there are some people who “bathe themselves or their desks in alcohol sanitizer,” an extreme that does more harm than good.
“In medical literature, there’s this concept called the hygiene hypothesis,” Hirsch explained. “[It] states that over keeping the environment super clean has been associated with an increased frequency of allergic conditions such as peanut allergies in kids.”
His views align with a body of research suggesting that exposure to the natural world can benefit both the immune system and the gut microbiome.
“We did not evolve in the presence of alcohol hand- cleansing gel,” he said. “We became what we are in response to an environment that often contained bacteria and germs, and we persevered as a species and evolved as a species anyway.”
4. Shaking hands in a hospital
In most settings, refusing a handshake might come across as rude. But in a hospital, it could be the smarter, safer move.
Hirsch said he values connecting with patients and their loved ones, but a handshake can be especially risky. Hospitals, in particular, are filled with people battling different illnesses and taking different antibiotics, creating a unique environment for germs to run rampant.
“These patients pose a higher risk than seeing people in different types of social settings. In hospitals, it makes sense to avoid unnecessary casual contact,” explained Hirsch. “Let’s tap elbows instead.”
He expressed less concern about by the spread of “the regular poop bugs” in fecal mater than pathogens, such as MRSA, or methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, a prevalent “peculiar bug” he considers one of the biggest offender.
5. People wearing a mask in their chin — not their mouth and nose
A mask can’t do its job if it’s not covering the parts of your face it’s designed to protect.
That may sound obvious, but Hirsch says he still sees plenty of people wearing masks under their noses or dangling from their chins, especially in healthcare settings where respiratory illnesses like the flu and COVID are a concern.
“It’s a very peculiar kind of performative gesture, wearing a mask on your chin or below the nose so that you’re able to breathe out in the atmosphere,” he argued.
“In this case, the mask is not doing any good. And yet, you’re wearing it on your face anyway.”
