some have seen benefits of these practices for health and preventing infections especially in areas where humans come in close contact with each other. while these practices came before the idea of the germ theory was public in areas that use daily cleaning, the destruction of infectious agents seems to be dramatic. others have described a 'dimension of purity' that is universal in religions that seeks to move us away from disgust, (at one extreme) and to uplift us towards purity and divinity (at the other extreme). away from uncleanliness to purity, and away from deviant to moral behavior, (within one's cultural context).