Gyms are disgusting places. Sure, many benefits come with working out, but let’s face it, gross germs and sweat are building up every second in those places.
A recent TikTok video took the fearmongering up a notch when he claimed his gym was so unsanitary it gave him chlamydia. The user, who goes by @grinny45, posted that he thought he was suffering from pink eye, but when he went to the doctor, it was confirmed to be chlamydia.
He was baffled, believing he couldn’t contract that without doing you know what, so his doctor apparently led him to believe he could have gotten it from dirty fitness equipment.
One viral clip led to another, and suddenly we’re blaming women who don’t wear underwear at the gym as the culprit behind this wild chlamydia theory. Wait, is this a thing?
But don’t worry, getting this STI at the gym is very unlikely. An Australian doctor named Zac Turner clarified that, while not impossible (virtually nothing in science is impossible), catching chlamydia from dirty gym machines isn’t something anyone should worry about.
“Chlamydia needs a warm, moist environment like the human body to survive,” he told an Australian news outlet. “Once exposed to air or gym wipes, it’s toast.”
He’s right. I now have “how does chlamydia spread” in my Google search history, so trust me when I say he’s right. Either that gym bro had unprotected sex he can’t remember or shared a sex toy with someone, because those are the two primary ways the infection spreads.
There are a lot of gross things at the gym. Chlamydia isn’t one of them.
Also, please clean off your gym equipment, people. Those sanitizing wipes directly next to every machine aren’t there for decoration.
The post Can You Catch Chlamydia From Gym Equipment? appeared first on VICE.
The post Can You Catch Chlamydia From Gym Equipment? appeared first on VICE.
