At what point, when recovering from an illness, should I get a new toothbrush?

I would say after you finish the antibiotics, since after that you are pretty much done with the illness and do not want to keep using the one you have when you were sick.

You could do it on day 4 or 5 of the antibiotics if you are already getting relief from your symptoms. Your bacteria levels are probably already driven way down if you are feeling better. With other antibiotics I might say wait a little longer, assuming you would be taking them 7–10 days, but zmax has a very long half life and is in you for a few days after the last pill.

Um ,,, if you “got over” the illness, you now have an acquired immunity and cannot catch it again.

@CaptainHarley Not true with many bacterias, is true with many viruses. People get strep throat for instance more than once in their life usually. Can get gonnerhea twice, the list goes on.

@JLeslie

Those are usually mutated bacteria, not the same ones.

@CaptainHarley Not that I know of, but I could be wrong. Things like colds, which are viruses, are actually many different strains of the rhinovirus that cause very similar symptoms. But, for instance if I have chlamydia, get better with antibiotics, and then have sex with that same guy again, I get the chlamydia back, same strain.

@JLeslie

Then don’t have sex with him again! LOL!

You may indeed be correct about that, since most of my knowledge about the topic is based on reading about it. If I’m wrong, I apolotize.

@CaptainHarley Just going by what little I know, don’t count me as an expert. In your plan I can sleep with the infected guy all I want.

LMAO! Uhhhh… !

I don’t know about you, but my toothbrush heads aren’t cheap.
Why not sterilize instead?

The same applies to bottled water. I had a really bad sinus infection that would not go away. My doctor gave me strong antibiotics to take. THAT DAY is the day I threw my old toothbrush away, along with a big bottle of water that I take medications with.

Both harbor bacteria..

Most people never think about their bottled water and germs, but they are there.

Expensive toothbrushes? Say what?

@CaptainHarley…What

You can just soak the toothbrush in some peroxide and let it dry completely. All the bacteria should die off.

@Hain_roo I don’t have an electric toothbrush, just the old manual style, but disinfecting is a good idea.
Maybe I should start using the new one and disinfect it every day for a while.
@john65pennington Good idea about the water bottle.

Yes, I replace mine a few days in on the antibiotic, or when the symptoms of the virus abate. You can also disinfect your toothbrush in bleach water between uses to kill any bacteria between brushing.

@wilma Don’t forget to bleach your sink :)

We have one of these UV Sonicares. However, I still use alcohol to sanitize the handle, the outside of the unit and I run my tongue scraper and my other toothbrush through my dishwasher to sanitize when I’m ill.

Personally, I do this during the illness and after the illness. I second bleaching the bathroom. I also bleach the doorknobs, and Lysol other areas of my home.

I am too cheap to throw out my tooth brush when it is still structurally sound. When I’m sick, I rinse it off with dish washing liquid and put it in the dishwasher when I do the dishes.
I’m still alive.

I have done all the sanitizing around the house. (In between collapsing on the sofa with exhaustion.)
I got the new toothbrush and I think I’ll disinfect it everyday with mouthwash too.
Now if one of you dear folks would be kind enough to send me some homemade chicken soup I would be ever-so grateful. Just kidding of course, I just made myself some Lipton. I wish I had some homemade stock in the freezer right now.

I so would @wilma. I’ve had pneumonia a few times. It really sucks all of your energy. Rest well m’dear!

Don’t obsess. By the time the drugs are all out of your system the bacterias laying around in your home will be pretty much gone

Why not just disinfect the sucker?

@Nullo I do that once in a while especially when I have a cold, but sometimes when we have something like this nasty respiratory crap going around, I like to get more drastic in my sanitation measures.