Sanitization fad and its collateral damage

Excerpt

Antimicrobial resistance has been a perpetual obstacle in healthcare, with public health connotations, but has assumed exalted proportions with the recent coronavirus pandemic mandating unbridled use of disinfectants. In fact, such was the awe and phobia of the coronavirus pandemic that usage of antimicrobial products, other than antibiotics, has come to become an unalienable part of the lifestyle of every household. Be it home or a public place, everywhere, high-traffic surfaces like the doors, handles, railings, and floors are being laced with antimicrobial coating. In healthcare establishments, especially hospitals and dispensaries, this seems to have taken the shape of a pathological mental paranoia. As a reflex action, even without having touched any surface or a patient, medical and paramedical professionals seem to be dousing their hands in disinfectant and scrub solutions multiple times in a day. …