I think the point is that, if whatever sick, disgusting variety of Ebola you are carrying did not kill you by now, it probably isn’t going to. But that doesn’t mean that it won’t kill someone else if you don’t keep your head securely in a plastic bag to avoid passing it around.
This doesn’t directly address your point, but I had to share:
I recently read in Scientific American magazine that the average person has about 18 pounds of just bacteria in their intestines, something like around 10% of total body mass. Think about THAT!
This is a bit simplified, and IANAMB…
Each of us has what is called our “normal flora” - those bacteria that share a symbiotic relationship with us. They normally don’t make us sick, and are in fact quite important for our survival - bacteria on our skin actually serve as a line of defense by warring with some harmful bacteria we come in contact with, and digestion and absorption of nutrients from our intestine is greatly aided by the work of bacteria. Problems can, and indeed do, develop when someone is a “compromised host” - their own resources are taxed/weakened by, say, a condition affecting their immune system, or when the normal flora is whacked out of balance by antibiotics. This can lead to an overgrowth of some of the normal flora, and cause illness. Yeast infections are a common example (thrush, an overgrowth of yeast in the mouth and throat often occurs in those with compromised immune systems). One can also be a “carrier” of a pathogen without becoming sick, or not becoming sick until moving into the category of compromised host. Methicillin-resistant staph aureus (MRSA) is a scourge in hospitals and long-term care facilities. Healthy hospital personnel can sometimes be carriers without becoming sick, and inadvertently infect patients, who them become ill because their immune systems are already working overtime to fight the initial insult that landed them in the hospital anyway.
So, in short, yes, we do have “our own germs”. They don’t normally make us sick, but given the right circumstances, they can.
A better brief overview is here
When I was a kid I remember people having the attitude that the germs of other members of the immediate family were also not as harmful as those of a stranger, for reasons similar to those described by tcburnett. The assumption is that the family members have been exposed to it and are evidently immune to those germs.
Just because it’s “your own germs” doesn’t mean it’s actually had a good chance to infect you yet.
I certainly wouldn’t give a hanky another try.
Your body was expelling those germs. You can’t be that acclimated to them.
And the food germs usually aren’t going to give you food poisoning in small amounts, but only when they’ve been growing for a couple of hours.
Also, what makes you think that just because you’ve bit into a sandwich all it’s germs came from you? It probably got a pretty mixed bag of germs sitting in the warming tray at the company picnic food line.
We got all our sanitary rules from hard experience.