10 votes
Accepted

Why handwash should last for 20 seconds or more?

This is something people have been studying since 1847 when Ignaz Semmelweis hypothesized that childbed fever was caused by physicians assisting at deliveries without cleaning their hands (sometimes ...
Charles E. Grant's user avatar
5 votes

What exactly are the health risks of using public swimming pools?

"Surely there are more risks" well, you could drown. You could be assaulted or filmed in the change room. You could get dry skin from exposure to the water or the compounds in it - when I swam daily ...
Kate Gregory's user avatar
  • 3,849
4 votes

Is it ok to not wash a contact lens?

Much like you probably won't catch a cold every time someone sneezes on you, you also most likely won't get an eye infection every time you neglect contact lens hygiene. We all did it at some point, I'...
mismas's user avatar
  • 107
2 votes

How to clean a dental pick which has not been used in a long time?

Unless there have been animals around it recently, it's unlikely there are any viruses on it. As for bacteria, or more specifically bacterial spores, wet heat is a far better sanitizer than alcohol. A ...
jzx's user avatar
  • 214
2 votes

Steps to ensure incoming foods from many grocery bags do not carry COVID-19 virus into the Refrigerator, Kitchen, Home?

The video https://youtu.be/sjDuwc9KBps from Jeffrey VanWingen, MD, summarizes methods for safe grocery shopping and cleaning during COVID-19. The main ideas are summarized in https://wgntv.com/news/...
2 votes

Transmission of helicobacter pylori

Yes, you could possibly become infected through sharing utensils. https://publichealth.arizona.edu/outreach/health-literacy-awareness/hpylori/transmission H. pylori is commonly transmitted person-...
Carey Gregory's user avatar
  • 9,753
1 vote

Healthy practices: Bad smell in water bottle

I agree with the answers on cleaning and the type of bottle/cork/lid. Another thing you should consider is that residue from your saliva may be what smells bad. Try leaving the freshly-cleaned ...
DoctorWhom's user avatar
  • 5,784
1 vote

Healthy practices: Bad smell in water bottle

Plastic bottles work just fine. When buying sparkling water (I'm German), they come in plastic bottles and never get this taste of old shoe soles, and I haven't had any problems with bacteria either. ...
Narusan's user avatar
  • 6,772
1 vote
Accepted

Prophylactic effect of hand sanitizer

Yes, to a degree. Since the stuff we touch will be on our hands and the stuff that's on our hands will be on what we touch. CDC: Quickly reduces number of microbes, but not all Less effective in ...
Pobrecita's user avatar
  • 2,975

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