ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

James Bond has evaded some dangerous adversaries during his 59-year-long career. And that includes most known pathogens, according to experts.

A team of researchers from the Netherlands' Radboud University Medical Centre has analysed the health and hygiene habits of 007 in his 25 films dating from 1962 to 2021. And these have been found to be seriously wanting.

Bond has only been seen to wash his hands twice in the course of his 86 international missions to 47 countries. And in the 1973 film Live and Let Die, he picks up a raw chicken with his bare hands to fend off an alligator attack. He then escapes on a speedboat across the Louisiana Bayou - without washing his hands first.

Bond's careless attitude to hygiene continues even when faced with a pandemic. Following an outbreak in 'You Only Live Twice' the hero demonstrates poor social distancing and dons a face mask that has already been worn by another character before him.

Other health risks taken by the icon include excessive smoking and drinking, casual sexual encounters, feasting on raw oysters and eating uncooked fruit.

The aim of the study is to highlight the dangers of international travel now that Covid-related restrictions are easing. Co-author and epidemiologist Teun Bousema says: "The serious message is that we often think of ourselves as invulnerable when travelling because the holiday mood and excitement makes us feel nothing can happen. That is not the case - and we run real risks."

The team's paper entitled 'No Time to Die: An in-depth analysis of James Bond's exposure to infectious agents' has been published in the journal Travel Medicine and Infectious Diseases.