‘New fear unlocked’: Customer says she got hand, foot, and mouth disease from digging in the bins at Goodwill

A new fear has been unlocked for TikTok users—getting hand, foot, and mouth disease from visiting thrift stores.

In a video with over 5.7 million views as of Saturday, TikTok user Sarah (@sarah_smitherz) alleges that she got the disease from browsing bins at a local Goodwill.

“Everyone always says, ‘Go to the Goodwill bins, you’ll get so much good stuff for cheap,’” Sarah says. “What they don’t tell you is that you could get hand, foot, and mouth disease like I did two weeks ago from digging around in the bins for four hours.” 

“I didn’t even know adults could get that!” she concludes.

@sarah_smitherz Learn from my mistake & wear gloves #greenscreen #goodwillbins #goodwillfinds #handfootandmouthdisease #foryou ♬ original sound - sarah_smitherz

In the caption, Sarah adds, “Learn from my mistake & wear gloves.”

Hand, foot, and mouth disease is “usually a minor illness,” says the Mayo Clinic. The disease is characterized by fever, “sores in the mouth,” sore throat, and “a rash on the hands and feet.” Hand, foot, and mouth disease is most often found in young children.

This disease is generally caused by exposure to coxsackievirus 16, which can be spread via contact with an infected person’s “Nose secretions or throat discharge, Saliva, Fluid from blisters, Stool, [or] Respiratory droplets sprayed into the air after a cough or sneeze,” per the Mayo Clinic.

As Goodwill does not wash clothes before putting them on their racks and into their bins, there is a possibility that Sarah became exposed to coxsackievirus 16 via one of the items in the bin, as the Mayo Clinic notes that “the virus can live for days on surfaces in common areas, including on door knobs, and on shared items such as toys.”

In the comments section of Sarah’s TikTok, users claimed that her video encouraged them to change their shopping behavior.

“I sort clothes at Goodwill and this has motivated me to start wearing gloves while working,” a user wrote.

“You know what... I'll just pay full price,” another said.

A few users shared stories of thrifting adventures gone awry.

“A woman we knew from church got scabies from not washing clothes she bought thrifting,” recalled a user.

“When I got stabbed with rusty old scissors and had to go to urgent care to make sure i wasn’t going to get infected,” shared a second.

“I currently have pink eye from the bins lol,” a third stated.

“This is also how you get bedbugs,” advised another TIkToker.

We’ve reached out to Goodwill via email and Sarah via Instagram direct message.

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