Infection risk spreads to second-hand shopping sites
As prices in the clothing sector have begun to rise rapidly, demand for second-hand shopping sites has recently increased.
İHA
Assistant Professor İpek Ada Alver stated, "When items sold on second-hand shopping sites—especially clothing, as well as kitchen and bathroom utensils, mother-baby products, and personal care items—are sold without being sanitized, or are used without being sanitized, they can threaten health in terms of bacterial, viral, parasitic, and fungal infections transmitted through skin contact."
Microbiologist Assistant Professor İpek Ada Alver, who noted that unhygienic products on second-hand shopping sites can transmit infections such as body lice, scabies, Hepatitis B, Candida fungal infections, Trichomoniasis, and Herpes simplex, commented on the infection risk in online second-hand shopping by saying, "Although newborn clothes are among the most preferred second-hand items because they are outgrown quickly, and because baby bottles, pacifiers, and breastfeeding products are used for only a short time, this is a period that requires even more caution as newborns and infants have not yet developed immune responses to external environmental conditions."
THERE IS ALSO AN INFECTION RISK IN FITTING ROOMS
Stating that there is also an infection risk in fitting rooms where dozens of people try on clothes daily, Ada Alver said, "In fitting rooms, the same garment is tried on by dozens of people a day and can be transmitted from an infected person to a healthy individual through contact. For this reason, since trying on clothes by multiple people can pose a risk to human health, it is beneficial for fitting rooms and clothes to be disinfected at regular intervals."
WASHING AT HIGH TEMPERATURES IS IMPORTANT
Emphasizing that there are precautions that can be taken to prevent shopping items from becoming a source of transmission, İpek Ada Alver explained, "I recommend that products purchased either in person or from online sites—especially clothing and other items—be used only after being washed in a washing machine or dishwasher at a temperature of at least 60 degrees Celsius, depending on the type of product, or, for items that would be damaged by heat, by washing them with soap and water and wiping them down with white vinegar."