eli5 why you don’t get infections from your mouth, nose, or ears often? What’s the difference between those openings and if you had an open wound which could easily get infected
In: 37
TL;DR: saliva, mucus, earwax
Hopefully this doesn’t get deleted for being too short, but each of those three orifices have fluids/solids that explicitly protect against infection.
The mouth has saliva, which indirectly kills bad bacteria by “communicating with” the good bacteria in your mouth: https://malloydevinedental.com/saliva-keeps-bad-bacteria-in-check/
The nose has mucus, which helps prevent bacterial growth, though also indirectly: https://www.nibib.nih.gov/news-events/newsroom/disarming-bacteria-mucus-and-phages
Finally, the ears have ear wax, which also kills bacteria as well as preventing bacteria from entering the inner ear: https://owlcation.com/stem/Ear-Wax-Facts-Functions-and-Health-Problems
These orifices are normally open to the world, so it makes sense for them to be protected.
Conversely, wounds open up parts of our body that aren’t normally exposed to the world and therefore normally don’t have strong protection against bacteria
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