Syracuse New Times: Dirty Thoughts: A germ-laden childhood might be a good thing for a person’s immune system.
The United States, like most other industrialized nations, has seen a rise in allergic reactions such as asthma, hay fever and eczema. Two British scientists believe this rise in allergic disorders may be the result of obsessive cleanliness, as well as the uses of antibiotics and vaccinations. They maintain that all of these elements deprive the immune system from learning to distinguish between harmful and non-harmful agents.
Among their findings are the discoveries that you are less likely to be allergic if you were not given antibiotics as a child; had older siblings, especially brothers; rarely washed your hands or face as a child; lived in a home with bacteria-laden dust; were brought up on a farm with animals; had a dog; had a childhood infection that was transmitted by fecal-to-oral contamination; and grew up in Communist, rather than Western, Europe.
