Dr Tom Smith continues his advice column and answering questions about health

Q Is there any danger from keeping make-up beyond its sell-by date? I hardly use mascara, and I’ve just found that mine is more than a year old.

A You shouldn’t keep applying to your skin old stuff that can become a culture for germs.

A recent study found that out of date cosmetics harbour germs that have originated from your bowel and urine, and you wouldn’t want to spread them over your skin.

And women keep all sorts of things other than make-up in their cosmetics bags.

So keep only make-up items in them, and nothing else and be very careful about your personal hygiene.

I remember a TV programme in which people in the street were invited to put their fingers on a pad that would show the extent of the bacteria on them.

Most of them were shocked beyond belief at the results. Hardly anyone had clean hands, and many had illness-causing bacteria on them. As you handle your cosmetics you transfer these bugs on to them, where they grow happily and not noticeably on, and under, the surface.

Mascara was one of the worst offenders, I’m sad to say!

Q We have just read that red squirrels have a form of leprosy. We often go to Cumbria, where the red squirrels are very common in the woods around our holiday home. Is this the same disease that used to infect humans, and is there any risk at all from being in contact with them? Some are so tame that they come on to our patio table.

A The leprosy germ infecting red squirrels is the same bacterium that causes human leprosy, but the chances of you catching it from a red squirrel are vanishingly small.

It was identified in the squirrels in 2014 but veterinary experts say that they have always had it – perhaps for thousands of years.

And as there haven’t been any cases of native leprosy in Britain for several centuries we don’t seem to be catching it from them! The disease has an interesting history in Britain.

King Edward 1 of England put it about that King Robert the Bruce of Scotland had it to show that he had been condemned by God and couldn’t be a king!

Historians think it was much more likely he had psoriasis (any skin disease was thought to be leprosy at the time), which might have been the reason for him disappearing from public sight from time to time.

When the psoriasis was obvious (it waxes and wanes) he would hide away (hence the tales of him being in caves with spiders) until it improved. The last cases of leprosy in Europe were actually in Norway, at the beginning of the 20th century.

It is still present in the Far East, where one of its important treatments is thalidomide! A little bit of silver lining in that terrible cloud of damage to unborn babies.

