Sies! Change your dirty undies

Our laundry sometimes piles up and, when the rainy season hits like it has this week, we usually find ourselves rummaging through our old clothes and holey underwear drawers.

But have you ever worn dirty clothing during those times or, worse yet, used the same pair of skivvies two days in a row and what are the health implications of using the same dirty underpants more than once?

A researcher from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine warned in a 2015 Medical Daily article that traces of faecal matter and other microorganisms get left in underwear and, if they come in contact with a cut, can cause great harm.

“You shed skin cells at a vast rate all the time. They are full of microorganisms. We all have skin and gut organisms that are usually not harmful on our skin and in our gut. But if they get into the wrong place, they can cause problems,” said professor Sally Bloomfield.

According to a poll conducted by Ergoflex, a memory-foam mattress company, “not washing your pyjamas or underwear for over a week may leave you susceptible to developing MRSA (a bacterium that causes hard-to-treat infections in different parts of the body), cystitis and other skin infections”.

And while there is no real evidence as to just how risky South African are when it comes to changing their underwear, it would seem our American counterparts have no qualms when it comes to wearing the same stinky, skid-marked underpants two, three and even seven days in a row. Yuck!

A recent survey conducted among 2,000 people by Tommy John, a leading USA-based men’s and women’s underwear company, a whopping 45% of respondents claimed to have worn the same pair of underwear for at least two days in a row – and that was without washing them.

And if that wasn’t disgusting enough, another 13% admitted to wearing the same pair of skivvies for a whole week!

“Since underwear hygiene is typically kept behind closed doors, we were curious to see the habits of Americans, and air their dirty laundry,” the company said on the blog page.

However, before the ladies start pointing fingers at the menfolk for being the culprits, the Tommy John company also points out that the survey was evenly split between males and females.

Another split also seems to be present among health experts, with some saying DON’T and others saying DO but only in extreme emergencies.

According to Philip Tierno, a professor of microbiology and pathology at the NYU School of Medicine, you can probably wear the same pair of undies for a maximum of three days if it’s an emergency.

However, avoid sniffing them because, as other experts warn you actually transfer faecal matter and E-coli from your drawers to your face, and that’s one way of becoming gravely ill.

So, it’s pretty much common knowledge and has actually been backed by science, DO NOT wear the same underwear for consecutive days and, as Tommy John recommends, discard old underwear every 6-12 months.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.