Stupid: People Claiming They Got Chlamydia From Gym Machines

This is one of the dumbest things I’ve read this week

I’m a doctor — here’s how you can avoid ‘catching’ chlamydia from gym equipment https://t.co/O18mA6RTlK pic.twitter.com/lFbmH1mUnM

— New York Post (@nypost) December 17, 2024

Would you like to know the answer?

A leading doctor has weighed in on viral social media claims that say that it’s possible to get chlamydia from touching gym equipment.

The rumor began with a TikToker who claimed he contracted the STI at the gym after wiping his eye with a towel that he had placed on a bench.

User @grinny45 said he had to visit his doctor after getting what he thought was “pink eye” also known as conjunctivitis, a minor infection of the eye.

But tests revealed it was actually chlamydia.

Confused, as he hadn’t been sexually active, the doctor asked if he worked out in a public gym.

“Chances are someone has sweated on the seat you put your gym towel [on], wiped your face, and [got] pink eye,” his doctor apparently told him.

Yeah, really, most likely he was simply making up a story, because doctors do, in fact, know better

In another video, user @alaskaaayoung77 blamed this on the phenomenon of women going commando in the gym.

Others then responded and shared clips of themselves excessively wiping down gym equipment, in fear of getting “eye chlamydia.”

Alaskaaa sounds fun, if you can take her stupid video, sitting in her car with way too much makeup on

Now, Dr. Zac Turner, a leading biomedical scientist and doctor from Sydney, has offered his medical verdict.

Can you get chlamydia from gym equipment?

Short answer? No.

“Chlamydia is not the ghost of sweaty treadmills past, waiting to haunt your reproductive health,” according to Zac.

You can get a lot of other things at the gym, so, wipe the benches and equipment down when you’re done using it. Wash your hands. I wash them after using the machines, and then after using a treadmill or stationary bike. I’m a bit zealous after working in wireless years ago and seeing the condition of people’s phones. I avoid touching the benches that much. Oh, and I don’t have unprotected sex with shady people then blame the resulting STD on being at the gym. Which we all know is what really happened. You get chlamydia from sexual activity, oral, anal, and vaginal. That’s it. You know the people making these claims have friends who know exactly what happened, probably involving alcohol and a hookup.

I do live that the NY Post uses a photo of a woman in essentially a thong working out. Good way to get other infections.

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