Some of the soil-born pathogens are deadly. There is one in the woodland soil where Beau hunts for black bear, up North.
We have lost a superb bear dog to a soil-related disease they can get. Botrisis, I think it’s called. Effects the lungs, and once they’re symptomatic, it’s too late.
It’s totally hit or miss and you can’t guard against it, either. :(
Several years ago I had a gardening injury that was infected. I’ll never forget the look on the doctor’s face when he was telling me the results of the culture, and admitted that he’d never even heard of the types of bacteria in my infection!
It took 3 different antibiotics all at once, including Cipro, to knock it out. All because I decided to pull weeds without gloves on.
A little dirt is harmless, until it isn’t. The fact that humans survive at all is a miracle.