normal flora

There are places in/on our body where millions of bacteria reside. They bacteria serve no harm and can even benefit us sometimes. These bacteria are called normal flora. The normal flora is different for different parts of the body. There are some sites of the body taht have no normal flora and are therefore sterile. Examples of sterile sites are the eyes, and CSF.
When we do something to displace or kill the normal flora, we set the scene for opportunistic infections.
An example of normal flora in the gut is E coli. As long as E coli remains within the gut, it will cause no problems. However if it gets introduced into another part of the body, it will cause an infection.
Okay lets talk about antimicrobial soaps like Protex and Dettol. By way of comments, how many of you use either one of these soaps?
So these soaps are claimed to be antimicrobial, which means they will kill microbes. But the question that begs to be asked is: why are we killing our normal flora? If we kill the normal flora, we allow opportunistic pathogens to enter and cause disease. So aren't we causing a bigger problem? The manufacturer's justification for using these soaps is that it will kill pathogens. Now i ask you, how often will you come into contact with pathogens in your day to day activities? Hardly ever. The images shown in the tv adverts show exposure to bacteria in soil and on toys, etc. This is absolute rubbish. Whatever bacteria re on the toys and in the soil will not harm you. Unless it's contaminated with faeces, and somehow I don't think you will be touching something that is faecally contaminated.Makes you think.....