Blogpost 3: On Being a "Germaphobe"

While I was watching "The Big Bang Theory", I noticed that Sheldon Cooper, one of the main characters of the show, is a germaphobe. He is obsess when it comes to sanitation.  There is this scene (Episode 11 of Season 1) where Penny, the female protagonist, came home from Nebraska. Leonard (male protagonist) asked how her trip was and Penny answered, "It's a worse trip, everyone got sick over the weekend." Upon hearing the word sick, Sheldon became paranoid and asks a lot of questions about that sickness.  He even sprayed something in the atmosphere to eliminate bacteria in the air. In the end, Sheldon got sick and his friends took care of him. 

Sheldon spraying something in the air.

Germaphobia is the irrational fear of germs, dirt or contamination. A germaphobe person always feel that his hands must be washed, also known as obsessive-compulsive disorder. I mean, I know that we should avoid germs to prevent getting sick, but being obsess about it? I think its not a good idea, Something that's too much is always a bad thing.  I believe that we should maintain proper hygiene but not that to the point that each of us becomes a germaphobe.

As I was researching things about Germaphobia, I came across a site called MedicineNet.com in which I found an article entitled, "Cleanliness Rules Germaphobes' Lives" by Leanna Skarnulis. In her article, I found out that washing and cleaning for germaphobes are very important. She stated that obsessive-compulsive disorder is caused by an abnormality in a genetic component in the brain's circuitry. Most adult people with OCD believes that they acquire their illness when they were kids or when they undergone adolescence. 

"What's true with all types of OCD is that a compulsion is acted out to relieve anxiety produced by an obsessive, intrusive thought," as stated by Ms. Leanna Skarnulis.

Thinking of such bad manifestation such as when you got wounded and you already washed it, applied ointment, and dressed it with a bandage, you still think it is not enough and microscopic organisms will inhabit your wound and will cause infection. Thus, you will repeat the process over and over again until you are satisfied.

Let's talk about bacteria for a while because it is related with germophobia. I have read an article in The Virtual Museum of Bacteria, entitled, Bacteria are Needed for Life by Dr. T. M. Wassenaar. According to him, most people think of the three D's when they hear the word "bacteria". These three D's are dirt, disease and death. 

"Life evolved from, and with, bacteria, and all higher animals are dependent on bacteria," as stated by Dr. T. M. Wassenaar.

In addition, he stated that pathogenic bacteria are the ones that cause bacterial infections that will eventually make us ill. Other bacteria are good. In fact, humans have 10 times more bacteria that the human cells that are present in the body. Some of these bacteria create genes that encode for beneficial compounds that the body cannot make on its own.

Reading a whole lot of articles about Germaphobia made me realized that not all bacteria are bad. Some of them helps our body to grow and develop. I have learned that true germaphobes have OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder). Being neat is nice, being a net-freak is not. Our body needs bacteria. And as I've said anything that is too much is bad for you.