Interview

I think there is a common misunderstanding that all germs are harmful and that this leads to an unnecessary germaphobia.  The reality is that only about 1450 germs are pathogenic to humans and many of those are opportunistic in that they can only cause infection and disease in situations where the barrier function and immune system are compromised (i.e. wounds, HIV infection).  There is a need to co-exist with germs as they not only comprise a significant percentage of the earth biomass, they also make up about 90% of the cellular mass in the human body.  It may seem harsh to say but germs are everywhere and we have to get used to this fact and learn to co-exist with them.

Question 3: How can a more thoughtful cleaning of someones home or workplace have an impact on their lives?

Cleaning in general is essentially the removal of unwanted ‘soil’ from an environment.  In many cases, this means removing germs as well.  But there are studies that show that microbial diversity is actually good for health.  People need to give thought to the idea that a disinfectant-smelling home may be ‘clean’ but may not be helping one’s quality of life.  On the other hand, having an office or home that is ‘fresh’ with clean air either from exposure to the outside or the implementation of soil and plant microbiota (to give off that nice fresh geosmin and petrichor smell) will keep that diversity high and keep a higher quality of life.

Question 4: From a profit maximizing point of view, is it in the interest of a business to invest in a scientific approach to cleaning?

There really is no scientific aspect to cleaning as it is a very simple process.  However, hygiene, which is the science of health, is an important factor in the maintenance of quality of life in an office.  For those in HR and management, the concept of hygiene may be associated with Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory, which focuses on the hygiene of the employee in the workplace as it related to job satisfaction and productivity.  While the idea of hygiene has more to do with employee care, studies have shown that cleanliness, the access to fresh air and even the presence of plants can lead to improved job satisfaction and productivity.

For companies, I believe there is a need to shift from the concept of cleaning to that of hygiene and that this be incorporated into the overall HR perspective for employee care.

Globalization has given humans the opportunity to traverse the globe in less than 24 hours.  Considering the lag time for many infectious diseases is between 48-120 hours, a bacterium or virus can hitch a ride from one continent to another without anyone realizing it.  In addition to human travel, there is the risk of pathogen transfer through trade in which imported goods could bring a new strain that could lead to outbreaks or epidemics.

 In light of what I said in the previous answer, one might think that we are just helpless against another pandemic.  However, when it comes to the ultimate outbreak, there are many requirements in order for it to proceed.  Thanks in part to SARS and the H1N1 pandemic, which turned out to be little more than another seasonal flu, the world has developed surveillance and response mechanisms to stop a pandemic in its tracks.  The H1N1 pandemic could have been stopped if it had been more deadly.  But as the results showed that fewer people were dying than a normal flu, there was no need to take more drastic actions.  However, had H1N1 been more like SARS, then the world would have acted much differently to stamp out the disease.

I believe that the next massive human outbreak will be akin to a ‘plaguedemic’ in which a low pathogenic virus, such as flu H9N2 starts to spread and attracts all the attention leaving the opportunity for a secondary infection, such as MRSA, to infect, kill through pneumonia and spread like wildfire.  This concept of a plague within a virus outbreak was partially seen in the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak but the specifics are only being understood now.

Question 7: You’ve been on front pages, featured on the  radio, and television, writen a book, as well as consulted for multinationals why colaborate with start up like EG impecc?

 As I said earlier, offices need to start turning away from the solitary ideal of cleanliness and look at the concept of hygiene as a part of employee care.  Cleanliness is one aspect but other health-improving motivators could also be put in place.  The idea of providing Vitamin D supplements or probiotics could help as both of these have demonstrated their ability to help reduce stress and keep a balanced lifestyle.  Moreover, the addition and maintenance of plants could offer assistance, particularly to those offices that cannot open windows or have access to fresh air.  Finally, and perhaps more importantly, the maintenance of microbial diversity is a must and as microbiologists, EG impecc can take this into the future.

Question 8: You told us your mother was from Shillong, India, do you believe emerging market like India or developing countries like Pakistan can affordably tackle these issues as well

 The developing world has issues that hygiene simply cannot solve.  However, as these countries begin to adopt more developed world infrastructure and human resources applications, then there will be a place for the implementation of hygiene to improve the lives of the workers.  However, as I have seen in the past, introducing hygiene into an areas where people drink water from the same source as their sanitation simply will not work.  It’s a sad issue for over a billion people but hopefully increased economic growth will eventually help these areas and improve health.