People are panicking about catching chlamydia from gym equipment
People are panicking about catching chlamydia from gym equipment
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It’s always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to protecting yourself against STIs. But at a point, caution can lead to irrational fear — such as this TikTok trend, where people have become convinced they can catch chlamydia from gym equipment.
Videos of people sanitising gym benches and weights because they are scared of getting the sexually transmitted disease have hit hundreds of thousands of likes. One video captioned, ‘Keep seeing those TikToks where people are getting chlamydia on their face after touching gym machines’, racked up 149,000 likes alone.
Needless to say, it’s more mass panic than scientific analysis. So where did this hysteria stem from?. Back in 2023, fitness influencer Jayden (@grinny45) took to the platform to warn people against wiping their faces with towels they’d put on seats at the gym. After being diagnosed with chlamydial conjunctivitis, a form of the infection affecting the eyes, he claimed it could only be traced back to people going commando on workouts.
Ya know what im talking about 🤣 (prework fueled by @bloomnu ). In the video, Jayden recounted his conversation with the doctor, saying: ‘He goes, “mate, you’ve just been doing the nasty”. ‘I said, “listen, I haven’t slept with anyone in three months, four months” and he was actually in shock too. He goes, “well, you look like a big boy. Do you go to the gym? Chances are that someone has sweated on the seat, you’ve put down your gym towel, wiped your face, and gotten pink eye”.’.
