I have a problem. I had a Ureaplasma parvum infection, and a yeast infection. And now I'm scared that I might get infected again, using the public toilet. A friend told me that this is possible. Is it possible?
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Unfortunately, this fear of infection in public toilets was wrongly spread at some point. There is hardly any truth to it, but it has been causing a lot of stress in the minds of many women for years.
Especially with the two germs you mentioned: In yeast infections and Ureaplasma parvum, the problem practically never comes from “outside.” Rather, these are germs that normally colonize the female genitalia. So women naturally carry these germs, just like many other bacteria and viruses that are often very useful to us, such as lactic acid bacteria.
The idea that we humans are “germ-free” and that any germs can harm us is completely wrong. This excessive fear of germs has led many people to use excessive amounts of disinfectant on their bodies or on surfaces that we might come into contact with. Over the last few years, this has caused us problems by promoting the development of resistant and therefore dangerous germs and an increase in allergies. We should come to terms with the fact that our bodies consist largely of bacteria and viruses, which we urgently need for our healthy survival.
But of course, it is important to distinguish between good, helpful germs and those that can actually harm us. Certain germs are referred to as facultative pathogens. This means that with these germs, it depends on how many are present in a given location and whether they are in balance with the rest of the flora. Symptoms of disease only occur under certain conditions. Fungi and ureaplasma are among the facultative pathogenic germs. They normally live in small numbers in the normal vaginal flora. But certain conditions can cause theem to multiply rapidly and lead to inflammation of the skin, which can cause itching and redness. Treatment is then required to reduce the number of germs to such an extent that they return to normal levels in the balanced vaginal flora.
Back to public toilets: when using a public toilet normally, there is no need to worry about the transmission of germs, especially genital germs. The only important thing is to wash your hands after using the toilet, especially after a bowel movement. However, this is more about not passing germs from the stool to others via your hands when wiping. So always wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water after using the toilet. And also wash them before – so your touch your private parts with clean hands.
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