Germs like sex sells eh!
Have you noticed all those ads for cleaning products especially regarding kids ?
Many scientists argue that too clean an environment does not allow the immune system to develop properly and then when those kids later enter kindergarten and are in contact with others ( and all kind of stuff) tend to fall sick much more easily.
Heck you would think that all those doctors, nurses working in hospitals would fall sick constantly with what they have to deal and encounter daily. But their immune system has become stronger than the rest of us.
I do not know if you watched an episode of "the doctors" recently. Germs are just everywhere !!! money, credit cards, handbags ( apparently you should get some kind of hook to hang it and not touch the floor, patients in hospitals should not allow visitors to seat on their beds) clothing, phones, door handles.........etc. The list is endless. Everything carries all kinds of nasty stuff : salmonella, traces of human feces and so on.
Well you might as well live in a bubble and never set foot outside, never touch anything, never shake hands - or anything else ! - with another human being.
I wonder why there are still homo sapiens on this planet !
The media instill fears.....everything you do is a danger to you ! Microwaving will give you cancer, eating this and that will do the same, do not touch transfat, drinking sodas will rot your teeth, cell phones damage your brains and blah blah blah..
Being hygienic is good but obsessively so....?? You have more chances of being hit by a car I would say.........why aren't cars banned by the way ? ( and toxic fumes).
Wont go into the subject of smoking lol :-)
Nor carcenoma of the skin induced by the sun and tanning salons for us pasty faces !!!!!
In particular circumstances, yes, strong hygiene is a must : SARS for ex, going to foreign countries where sanitation is not exactly on the top of the list ,outbreaks of avian flu and other "nasties"..