What is the best way of stopping pathogens from entering your body or spreading to others?

Answer 1

Intact skin is our bodies' largest organ and our most important defense against pathogens. Pathogens cannot directly pass through skin, thus severely restricting the ways that pathogen can enter the body to the facial features, excretory system and open wounds. Therefore, the best method to stopping pathogens from entering the body is to prevent exposure of the possible entrances to pathogens. For the facial features, the easiest method is to keep your hands clean (since they are the most likely body part to come in contact with your eyes, mouth, and nose). For the excretory system (anus, vagina, penis), keep those areas clean. For open wounds, sanitize and cover.

The spreading of pathogens to others follow the same concept. They only have a finite amount of exits. As long as others do not come in contact with your bodily fluids, the likelihood of transfer is very low.

Answer 2

There really is no way to stop all pathogens from getting into your body. The best that we can do is at least keep out most of them, and hopefully most of the more serious ones. The best thing to do is to wash our hands frequently, cover your mouth and nose when you sneeze, and boost your immune systems to deal with the onslaught of microbes that we encounter everyday.

Plus remember: Most microbes and bacteria are either harmless or beneficial to us. Only a very few are pathogenic, causing disease.