I am curious if working with yeast and bacteria give people an advantage over other people when it comes to food poisoning (or other forms of infection for that matter)? For instance E. coli O157H7 is not really that different from E. coli in the lab and so does exposure help overcome the virulent strain?
People who work in micro labs tend to be pretty anal about keeping clean. It’s second nature to not stick things in your mouth, wear gloves, not touch your face, etc. So, I would take issue with your assumption that micro lab workers have higher exposure rates than the general public. Unless they’re ingesting samples of human shit, or injecting themselves with live cultures, they’re not contracting the diseases they study.
-N.B., Lab Bitch extraordinaire
Forgot to add: micro people might get less food poisoning because they also tend to be more cognizant of risky food situations. I.e., they probably, as a group, tend to avoid buffets and the like that have food warming for extended periods of time (risk of b. cereus, s. aureus, etc). Also, everybody’s gut is filled to the brim with benign E.coli. We need it there.
Yes, once you learn to use sterile technique, it tends to follow around into all your non-work walks of life too.
If anything, I’d expect microbiologists to have lower rates of food poisoning just because they know better than the general population what to avoid. But this would extend not just to the microbiologists themselves, but also to their families and anyone else who eats out of the microbiologist’s kitchen.
I was curious if the cleanliness factor would be a potential contributing factor.
How so? I don’t think I understand your question.
I am aware of situations where food poisoning might be a possibility at home, and cook and clean according to my knowledge and practices on-the-job (bacterial and mammalian cell culturing as well as clinical lab experience in the past). I don’t feel the need to keep my house or kitchen OR-room clean. But, I do get odd looks when I handle multiple utensils or uncap things using aseptic techniques, though.
Vlad/Igor
Nunavut Boy,
Sorry to be unclear. I was thought that if there had been a study (or something equivalent) if they would ever be able to remove the cleanliness and ability to watch out for contamination and restict it to just the effects from exposure.
I know that doctors and nurses claim to be able to escape illnesses by handwashing and good hygiene, so it looks like lab people do the same thing.
Thanks.
We once had a BBQ at my old workplace, a large company with dozens of different lab sections. It was hilarious, watching all of the micro people taking their burgers back to be cooked more. I felt bad for the poor cooks.
It’s true that I try to be careful about food preparation, and stay away from undercooked meats (coursework in parasitology has a certain residual effect).
On the other hand, in restaurants you’re like everyone else in your dependence on the health and good practices of the meal preparers. Mrs. J. and I still have vivid memories of the Lost Weekend a couple years ago when we were prostrated by norovirus after a meal at a fancy place (it was the paella).
Things like paella scare me a little, due to their resemblance to the media and growing conditions used in microbiology to culture bugs (“Mmm, nice nutrient solution, kept toasty warm - thanks, guys! We appreciate it!”).
I used to be a lab tech, and I have never had a confirmed case of food poisoning (I’ve feel a little oogy after eating on occasion, but no obvious vomiting or diarrhea). Like others have said, you do learn to be careful about certain things (keeping hot foods hot and cold foods cold, hand-washing, cross-contamination, keeping your kitchen and utensils clean, keeping your hands out of your face, etc.). I’m also cognizant of the toxins bacteria produce - just because re-heating killed the bacteria doesn’t mean the toxins they’ve already made are gone.
I know my microbiology prof refused to eat burgers and would lecture for a considerable period of time on why you should use wooden chopping boards and spend the extra money on good quality dish soap.
He did admit to a craving for barely cooked chicken livers, but he insisted that he’d never been sick from them.
I have an aunt who is a microbiologist and is fanatic about food cleanliness. She strongly criticizes our use of wooden cutting boards; when we visit and stay with her, all towels and washcloths get washed after one use and food tends to be, aah, well cooked. Despite this, she once had a serious food-borne illness caused (apparently) by strawberries eaten at a friend’s house. When she remained sickly for weeks, she was eventually diagnosed with celiac disease, although no one can prove that that was a result.