Badly washed sheets: beware of serious illnesses

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Extract from the article: It's possible to get sick in bed. If you don't wash your sheets well enough, you can let bacteria spread, and risk catching certain illnesses, some of them serious.

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It's possible to get sick in bed. If you don't wash your sheets well enough, you can let bacteria spread, and risk catching certain illnesses, some of them serious.

Sheets are veritable nests in which numerous bacteria can proliferate. If you don't change your sheets enough, dust mites can thrive, which can be dangerous to your health. When dead skin cells are left to rest in sheets, these bacteria can thrive.  If they then return to the skin, this can lead to folliculitis, a common benign skin infection in which hair follicles become inflamed.

What's more, not changing your sheets enough can lead to « skin infections, such as fungal and bacterial infections, which can cause redness, itching and rashes; respiratory infections, such as flu, colds and pneumonia, which can be transmitted by droplets of saliva or mucus. Gastrointestinal infections, such as gastroenteritis and salmonella, can be transmitted by germs on contaminated hands or surfaces. It can also lead to sexually transmitted infections, such as chlamydia or gonorrhea, which can be transmitted by contaminated sheets during unprotected sex », explains Espoir Dah, Biological Technician at the Centre medico-chirurgical « Rocher de Grâce » in Lomé. Failure to wash sheets properly can also lead to appendicitis.

How do you wash your sheets properly?

To prevent sheets from becoming a transmitter of bacteria, Biological Technician Espoir Dah recommends washing sheets regularly with hot water and an effective detergent to eliminate germs and bacteria. For people with asthma or allergies, we recommend changing sheets even more frequently.

Elom AKAKPO