What Happened Back Then?

We were tougher back then - not quit as dainty as folks are today.

I think it's all a bunch of BS. I've read many stories over the past few years that the patients in hospitals are more likely to die of infections than whatever it was that they went in for the treatment of. If hospitals can't keep it's surroundings clean, then how would you expect ordinary people living in their ordinary homes to keep things so clean as to avoid any and all germs under any and all conditions. Buy a large plastic bubble to survive in or maybe petition Sears to go back to printing catalogs again?

Not good. I also think Marilyn is correct.

I know there are some people who will wash hands again after going through a buffet line before eating at the table.

Also most cruise lines will position employees with anti-bacterial hand sanitizer for each person to use before entering the restaurant. i think that is a very good idea.

That is horrible if true. People should wash their hands all the time. I wash mine when I get home from anywhere so I dont have bacteria. The more offensive thing is most people dont carry a tissue or a hankie and sneeze into the air and spread germs.

One of the reasons that people are living much longer will be because of the different standards of hygiene we have now compared with then however, if we are never exposed to anything 'dirty' we will never build up an immunity to infections. This is why we were told not to worry too much about babies picking up dirt from the garden etc. and eating a little of it.

I don't want to think about it. In Roman times I learned they used their finger! Ugh. I wash my hands so often they become chaffed and raw. I am so afraid of germs, my mother who was an RN was constantly washing her hands and my sis and I had to follow suit. She worked in ER for several years and said some people who came through there were so nasty it was hard to treat them.

I think the bigger issue was the contamination of water supply because of how and where they placed their outhouses.

I guess they just didn't live very long if they got sick.

Infections used to kill people before they found penicillin.

I know one of my grandmothers wouldn't of died at a young age if penicillin was around.

Yes, Marilyn is right. The biggest killer in the civil war were amputations were perfected was infection.

If we lived through those times our immune system was Number One.