Live with bacteria and become human again after Covid-19

Scientists and psychologists should be able to return to pre-pandemic social norms, such as hugging and shaking hands, after a year of social distance and public health measures to curb the Covid-19 epidemic. It states.

However, this depends on the level of vaccination and our ability to feel comfortable with each other and live with bacteria and microbes.

At the beginning of the pandemic, coronavirus researchers recommended constant surface hygiene for fear of viral infection, but surface infections are now considered scientifically low risk.

However, in some cases, we try to get rid of bacteria, bugs and microbes with sprays and disinfectants to make our own homes, workplaces and public spaces safer and less likely to create the Covid-19 threat. continue.

Covid-19 means doing everything to stop the catch of a serious virus. However, some experts warn that these actions can threaten us and the microbes that protect us.

Prior to the pandemic, there were warnings about super bugs and antibiotic overdose affecting our health and the global health system.

Scientists are now afraid that increased disinfection and zapping are affecting our microbiome, the trillions of bacteria that live inside and outside of us.

Improved hygiene can weaken these important microbes and jeopardize the immune system and its ability to fight infections.

“A community of bacteria, fungi and viruses is an ecosystem that lives inside and outside of us, but we nourish and benefit from it,” UCC professor Immuno Virology Professor Liam Fanning told RTÉ Newsat One. Told.

Our bodies have a vast ecosystem of organisms, and Professor Fanning states that the pandemic may have had a negative impact.

“At some levels they may threaten us, but at other levels we provide us with certain types of nutrients to digest certain types of food, and in some cases some. Relies on them to provide defense mechanisms by educating the immune system against more pathogenic bacteria, “he said.

“Once we start zapping everything around us that we have in Covid, we’re actually getting rid of a lot of these beneficial microbes.”

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In January, a group of global health researchers published a treatise in the minutes of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), warning about the fall of microorganisms that could occur as a result of a pandemic.

First of all, there is concern that it may be killing the microorganisms that help us.

Second, because they were separated from each other in the pandemic, they did not collect enough microbes from others. Microorganisms from other places and people help our microbial system build defenses against potential threats and infections.

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Dr. Brett Finlay, the first author of the PNAS study and professor of microbiology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, told News at One that microbes need to be protected, leading to elevated levels of asthma and obesity after pandemics. He said he was facing. Maximum impact on young people and the elderly.

“History shows that bad things happen when we rob these microbes. We are worried that we will rob them because of Covid. This has a downstream impact. It’s doing, “Dr. Finley said.

“This is actually seen in infants and the elderly because it is the time when microorganisms have the greatest impact. Infants are really exposed to microorganisms in order to develop their brain, intestines and immune system normally. You need it, and as you get older (after age 65), your microbes fall off the cliffs.

“Many studies have shown that if you can be exposed to microbes in young people, it actually helps you prevent the microbes from getting worse and accelerates the aging process,” Dr. Finley added. I did.

“We predict that we will probably see an increase in asthma and obesity-especially in the next three to five years after Covid,” said Dr. Finley.

However, scientists argue that instead of living in the bubble, they need to be exposed to more microbes, but the combination of wearing a mask and social distance during a pandemic is It cannot be ignored that it led to a reduction in colds and flu.

“This year’s flu season was virtually non-existent. It is doubtful whether the flu season will come because people may have accepted wearing masks and preventing the spread of the infection. We are much more I have an educated population of flu. It’s a mask for some people, and I think that kind of protection stays here, “said Professor Fanning.

Dr. Finley argues that returning to pre-pandemic social norms of hugging, shaking hands, and flocking to rooms is important to how we act as species.

“From how we function as species, we need to go back to microbial sharing, because it turns out to be very beneficial.

“How do we behave? We haven’t done so before, but we’re moving away from complete strangers. We are now trained to delusion of each other, which is microbial. Not good for transmission, “he said.

As social tactile creatures, can we resume normality and worry about living with bacteria? Dr. Trudy Meehan, Senior Clinical Psychologist at the RCSI Positive Psychology and Health Center, said News at One normality would reoccur.

“All our drives encourage us to be social and we are social creatures, but there will probably be different paths for different people.

“We will have to go through a period of adjustment in which some people step into the world and return to it to be truly happy. Others have greater anxiety and more fear. I will hold you.

“We’ll have to tolerate a lot of difference for a while until things settle down,” Dr. Mihan said.