After one gastroscopy after another, not only is it disgusting, but are there any infectious diseases?

A few days ago, my classmate's mother came to see me. It wasn't a serious illness, but she had been feeling uncomfortable in her stomach. She had taken a lot of medicine but it didn't work, so she came to see me at the hospital.

Given her age and her history of stomach pain, I decided to take her for a gastroscopy.

In the past, gastroscopy was not available for all diseases. According to the diagnosis and treatment process, non-invasive examinations should be performed first. Invasive examinations are only performed for serious cases or those with high suspicion. For example, if there are symptoms in the stomach, an X-ray should be taken first. If that doesn't work, a barium meal examination, which is not painful, should be performed. Only when a clear mass is found can a gastroscopy be performed.

Nowadays, with the development of painless and comfortable diagnosis and treatment technology in the Department of Anesthesiology, many invasive examinations have become very "comfortable". Therefore, it is normal to directly choose gastroscopy.

After the prescription was issued, blood was drawn for testing and an electrocardiogram was done as necessary. Next, I had to wait in line for a gastroscopy.

Since I am from the anesthesiology department and the patient is an acquaintance of mine, it is my responsibility to perform the anesthesia.

However, during the waiting process, something she said almost led to the failure of the gastroscopy.

Since she used to be a teacher, she thought a lot about the medical process. While sitting there, she was looking for something on her phone.

Suddenly she asked me: After doing gastroscopy one after another, not only is it disgusting, but are there any infectious diseases?

When she asked me this, I was indeed stunned. It's not that I didn't know how to answer, but I didn't expect someone to ask this question. However, if you put yourself in their shoes, it's reasonable for them to have this concern. After all, the examination is inside the mouth. If it was a stethoscope or something, maybe no one would care so much.

Looking back, I explained to her: All gastroscopes must be disinfected. After one is done, a special person will take it for disinfection. In the past, most hospitals used the immersion method. However, that method takes a long time, and once the mirror is blocked, it will affect the disinfection effect. Now it is different. Many hospitals have advanced endoscope disinfection machines. After fifteen minutes of disinfection, enzyme washing and other steps, the mirrors taken out are almost all sterile.

She interrupted, "I see at least dozens of patients at the door. If we disinfect each one, how long will it take? I wonder if we are in a hurry to skip the disinfection step?"

At this time, I seemed to see a teacher being serious again. However, there was nothing I could do about her, so I could only explain.

I explained: There is more than one mirror in a hospital, some hospitals even have hundreds of mirrors.

Seeing that she was still skeptical, I continued: In addition, the hospital also has an infectious disease department, and they will check the disinfection process of each department. Once the disinfection is unreasonable, not only will the department director be criticized, but he will also be fined! As for your infectious disease, it is even more impossible. This disinfection process can almost reach the level of sterility, and infectious diseases are even less likely to have a living space. Moreover, a necessary condition for infectious diseases is that the number of pathogens must reach the level of disease. Even if there are some pathogens left on the mirror, theoretically it will not cause disease. Don't forget that each of us has an immune system.

Hearing my intentional explanation in a professional way, she said embarrassedly: "I'm sorry to bother you. I'm a germaphobe, don't mind it. By the way, please help me find a new bed sheet when I do the examination later."

I thought to myself: It seems that she is really a germaphobe. However, there is no good way. So I explained to her: The sheets are disposable. After each sex, the sheets need to be changed. Therefore, there is no need to worry about this.

During the gastroscopy, she was under light anesthesia and retched from time to time. The gastroscopy irritated her throat, or maybe she was still retching subconsciously.