This Just In: Our Collective Health May Depend on Learning to Live With Germs Again

“There’s a wealth of evidence to suggest the microbiome has an influential role in our response to viral infections,” says Brent William, Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Pathology and Cell Biology, Columbia University.

Our health, and more specifically our immune systems, rely on our interactions with microbes.  

There was a lot of hand sanitizing, food washing, and mail wiping before we learned that the risk of transmission of COVID-19 from surfaces is low.  Researchers are concerned that excessive hygiene practices, inappropriate antibiotic use, and lifestyle changes, including distancing, may weaken our microbiomes, ultimately promoting sickness and compromising our immune systems.  

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