Worried I've spread urine germs

[RyRy]

I was half asleep when I peed this morning. I'm female. I wiped myself after peeing (i may or may not have got pee on my hand), but either way, i would've touched my genitals . I got totally sidetracked and forgot to wash my hands. I was crawling back into bed when i realised i hadn't washed my hands...i washed them then but by that point, i'd already touched my phone, bedsheets and other things. I don't have a UTI. Am I likely to have spread something harmful? 

[Huckleberry of Yore]

IMO nothing to worry about.  Our world is full of poop and pee all over the place (and worse).  Pets, bugs, birds, we really live in very filthy world with bacteria literally everywhere.  If your urine was that toxic, you'd have a lot more to worry about.  (I am not a doctor.)

[StringJunky]

You should stop worrying about your hygiene. I'm sure it's more than adequate. All washing does is reduce the bacteria on our hands or bodies; it does not eliminate them entirely. What this means is that, even if everybody was as fastidious as yourself, there would still be bodily bacteria on everything and person we touch. The bacteria in and on our bodies is part of what we are and we just mingle them with each other.   I would stop calling them 'germs' because that implies that they are all bad when they aren''t; call them what they are: bacteria. 

The commensal (benficial) bacteria in our bodies protects us from the harmful ones. Actually, the predominant bacteria in a vagina is Lactobacillus acidophilus and that strain is often used to make yoghurt and sours milk.  

[RyRy]

21 minutes ago, Huckleberry of Yore said:

Our world is full of poop and pee all over the place (and worse).  Pets, bugs, birds, we really live in very filthy world with bacteria literally everywhere.

Thanks. Good point - i just hate to think someone could be at risk because of something I've done.

6 minutes ago, StringJunky said:

You should stop worrying about your hygiene. I'm sure it's more than adequate. All washing does is reduce the bacteria on our hands or bodies; it does not eliminate them entirely. What this means is that, even if everybody was as fastidious as yourself, there would still be bodily bacteria on everything and person we touch. The bacteria in and on our bodies is part of what we are and we just mingle them with each other.   I would stop calling them 'germs' because that implies that they are all bad when they aren''t; call them what they are: bacteria. 

The commensal (benficial) bacteria in our bodies protects us from the harmful ones. Actually, the predominant bacteria in a vagina is Lactobacillus acidophilus and that strain is often used to make yoghurt and sours milk.  

Thanks for replying so quickly! Ok, that puts my mind at ease somewhat. I'm not so worried about other people's bacteria transferring to me but about me transferring bad bacteria to others - especially when others around me have hygienic habits (in fact, i do too, but in my sleepy state, i got sidetracked). 

 

Lol that's one way to put me off yogurt!

[StringJunky]

27 minutes ago, RyRy said:

Thanks. Good point - i just hate to think someone could be at risk because of something I've done.

Thanks for replying so quickly! Ok, that puts my mind at ease somewhat. I'm not so worried about other people's bacteria transferring to me but about me transferring bad bacteria to others - especially when others around me have hygienic habits (in fact, i do too, but in my sleepy state, i got sidetracked). 

 

Lol that's one way to put me off yogurt!

As long as the good guys outnumber the bad guys, it's all hunky dory. Seeing as you are concerned about this stuff from your past posts, I would enlighten yourself to the benefits of your body's natural inhabitants. Try Googling: 'human microbiota'; 'gut microbiota'; 'vaginal flora'; 'human microbiome'; 'skin microbiota'.

No more "germs" please.

Edited January 27, 2019 by StringJunky

[RyRy]

18 minutes ago, StringJunky said:

As long as the good guys outnumber the bad guys, it's all hunky dory. Seeing as you are concerned about this stuff from your past posts, I would enlighten yourself to the benefits of your body's natural inhabitants. Try Googling: 'human microbiota'; 'gut microbiota'; 'vaginal flora'; 'human microbiome'; 'skin microbiota'.

No more "germs" please.

Thanks - will Google those

[CharonY]

On 1/27/2019 at 4:26 PM, RyRy said:

I was half asleep when I peed this morning. I'm female. I wiped myself after peeing (i may or may not have got pee on my hand), but either way, i would've touched my genitals . I got totally sidetracked and forgot to wash my hands. I was crawling back into bed when i realised i hadn't washed my hands...i washed them then but by that point, i'd already touched my phone, bedsheets and other things. I don't have a UTI. Am I likely to have spread something harmful? 

A couple of other points, urine itself is fairly low in bacteria (in the absence of an infection). For a while it was assumed to be sterile, as it was not possible to cultivate bacteria from urine samples. However, it turns out that it does have a low uncultivable bacterial population. But as others said, routine hygiene is more than enough and excessive can be harmful. It is probably more important to wash hands when touching objects that are handled by many people during flu season.

[Strange]

14 hours ago, CharonY said:

A couple of other points, urine itself is fairly low in bacteria (in the absence of an infection).

Apparently, some people drink it. 

[Prometheus]

1 hour ago, Strange said:

Apparently, some people drink it. 

Surely a phallacy?

[PhilGeis]

From healthy folks - urine is usually near sterility and vaginal flora would offer fairly harmless Lactobacilli

[John Cuthber]

On 1/27/2019 at 10:26 PM, RyRy said:

but either way, i would've touched my genitals .

You were born touching genitals...
It didn't do any harm.