Specialty Gardening: Join Us! Seed Swap Seed Starting & Conversation #9, 1 by wind

wind wrote:
tabasco, just read that link about the persons finger amputation from gardening ~ yikes...

It is good for all of us to be reminded that microorganisms can be found in the soil, but I'm afraid I'm learning in a present microbiology class that they are EVERYWHERE too! Every door you touch, every hand you shake, on our skin, everywhere. Our bodies natural immune system is constantly warding off the bad guys, my professor keeps reminding us, the majority of microorganisms are good ~ good for us, the environment and are a part of all life.

We should always be careful with open cuts and to never garden with 'knowing' open breaks in the skin ~ in that persons case, something deep under the fingernail, they probably didn't know they even had a skin opening.

At the present time my brother-in-law is in a similar situation. He has been on an IV drip and a double combination of antibiotics for the past few months for an infection he has in a finger. He got his from a cut while working with a chain saw, it penetrated the bone.

Wearing gardening gloves is a good idea, but for me, I love getting my hands in the dirt :) I do wear gloves for certain tasks and always wear gloves if wearing a band-aide over cuts.

Off topic ~ gloves should also be worn when food handling if you have open skin breaks. When I was in culinary school, I got cuts all the time ...then thrown a pair of gloves :)

here is a bit of soil microorganism history some of you may find of interest
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selman_Waksman