Quote:
Originally Posted by LUBE UP 
Doctors do it because they work with multiple patients, some who may have compromised immune systems and all of whom have different resistance to different germs. It's vital that they don't transport bacteria or viruses from one patient to another, or from different surfaces to a patient, or from patient to sterile surface/equipment.. you get the drift. Protecting themselves is very low on the list of reasons for medical staff to constantly sterilise their hands and well, unless you're in a HAZMAT suit, washing your hands is going to do practically nothing to limit your exposure to harmful organisms while walking around a hospital.
And yes, not washing your hands will actually strengthen your immune system. While it won't happen just by dipping your hands into someones mucus, it WILL happen for the same reason people wash their hands in the first place- dirty things have a tendency to go from our hands into our bodies. We touch our face pretty damn often without realising it, and most of us don't wash our hands every time we reach for a bag of chips or try and dig that piece of vegetable out of our teeth.
That said, it's advisable you do wash after taking a dump or handling raw meat.
Doctors do it because they work with multiple patients, some who may have compromised immune systems and all of whom have different resistance to different germs. It's vital that they don't transport bacteria or viruses from one patient to another, or from different surfaces to a patient, or from patient to sterile surface/equipment.. you get the drift. Protecting themselves is very low on the list of reasons for medical staff to constantly sterilise their hands and well, unless you're in a HAZMAT suit, washing your hands is going to do practically nothing to limit your exposure to harmful organisms while walking around a hospital.
And yes, not washing your hands will actually strengthen your immune system. While it won't happen just by dipping your hands into someones mucus, it WILL happen for the same reason people wash their hands in the first place- dirty things have a tendency to go from our hands into our bodies. We touch our face pretty damn often without realising it, and most of us don't wash our hands every time we reach for a bag of chips or try and dig that piece of vegetable out of our teeth.
That said, it's advisable you do wash after taking a dump or handling raw meat.
Again, this is just wrong. This risks of not washing your hands far outweighs the benefits of walking around with germ covered fingers. You're right that doctors not washing their hands is for their patients' benefits, but that doesn't mean doctors have weakened immune systems as a result of it.
The whole thought that you are "strengthening your immune system" at an adult age through seeing a couple bacteria by touching your face is nonsense as well. Any time you touch your mouth or your eyes, almost none of that bacteria is mounting an actual proliferative immune response. Otherwise we'd always be feverish. The vast majority of microbes you are exposed to are taken care of by mechanical barriers. The few that remain are taken care of by the innate immune system(neutrophils and the like) which don't have any sort of "strengthening", and only the rare pathogen that breaks through all that actually promotes utilization of the adaptive immune response. This is normally in the context of a full-blown infection, not from the few little bacteria sitting on your hands.
To say that hand-washing in some way weakens your immune response is ridiculous.
