If sweat is anti-bacterial and doesn’t transmit germs, why do we make a big deal of cleaning things it gets on?

Question

Iv read sweat is naturally cleansing of bacteria, and it only smells because of the interaction with the bacteria. So why do we treat it as such a “gross” thing? I mean you should probably wipe down fluid off stuff because you don’t want it to get on you, but it seems more of a comfort thing than a hygene thing.

In: 3

Answer 1

There are limits to sweat’s anti-baterial properties. Moisture tends to cause other substances to stick to clothes and skin and some bacteria is well adapted to survive sweat to begin with. Remember, you’ve got some symbiotic bacteria on your skin to begin with.