GERMS

I'd like some nitty gritty on germs.  What has prompted this wondering about the little guys (are they microscopic?  I assume so.  I've never heard anyone say, "eeeeuuuwww, there's a germ!") was an article in the paper suggesting we ask our health care professionals if they have washed their hands before they treat us and a subsequent letter to the editor saying, yeah, right, this is the last thing we need to concern ourselves with in a crisis needing professional care.  I want to know - are germs sticky?  Does brushing my hands on my clothing get rid of them?  Some?  Many?  None?  Do they burrow into the whorls on my fingers?  The image of a doctor scrubbing like mad with a brush with antibacterial soap and then donning plastic gloves, for goodness sake, makes simple hand washing seem useless.  Or is the doctor overdoing it? Do they drown?  Roast to death?  Succumb to fright?    Also nudging on the paranoidal cells is the thought of washing off the germs in a public washroom sink, picking up some fresh ones from the handle of the paper towel dispenser, smooshing off some of those onto the paper towel, taking a bunch more on board from the doorknob from people who do not wash their hands............  Seems to me there is a line where germs are harmful, leading to illness, or beneficial, giving our immune system practise.  I just would like to know where that line is.