I knew it! Cleanliness leads to disease

[Undertoad]

A new study just out says that we are too damn clean for our own health. Required reading for the germ-phobic:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/index.php?newsid=7311

A group of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have found a connection between poor T cell survival in the body and the development of autoimmunity, they ask whether autoimmunity is also a question of being too clean.

On the basis of this connection, the scientists are proposing a new hypothesis about the cause of autoimmunity, in which components of a person's immune system attack his/her own tissues leading to diseases such as Type 1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.
...
This hypothesis could explain a discrepancy in the number of cases of autoimmune disease in developed and developing countries. Disease rates have been on the rise in developed countries in the last 50 years compared to their developing neighbors, presumably because people in less developed countries are exposed to more pathogens.

"The cleaner everyone is, the less stimulation their immune system gets," says Sarvetnick. "Their immune system tends to be incomplete."

[elf]

When my daughter was born, my husband got all up-in-arms about having people wash their hands before holding her and nonsense like that. I pshawed him out of his paranoia, and lo and behold, we have healthy kids!

My sister-in-law is the type that has tubs of bleach wipes all over the house and is almost fanatical about cleanliness - and her kids are allergic to everything.

Granted, I don't think that overprotection is the sole cause of her kids' health problems, but I also don't doubt the fact that exposure to all the nasties has helped my own kids' systems stronger.

[lumberjim]

whatever doesn't klill you makes you stronger.

this is the same as the people that take antibiotics every time they get a head cold. you become dependant on them because your own immune sys has been lazy.

i didnt need a scientific hypothesis to tell me this, but it's nice to see that the Dr's are opening their eyes.

[SteveDallas]

This goes right along with the studies that I'm sure you've all read about that suggest the average office desk is more germy than the average kitchen, which is far more germy than the average bathroom. Down the hatch.. I've always said you can't live in fear. We use Dial Antibiotic Liquid Soap at home, not because it's antibiotic, but because it's more or less unscented, and I can't stand the heavy odors of most other soaps. It's our only concession to germ-mania.

[ladysycamore]

"The cleaner everyone is, the less stimulation their immune system gets," says Sarvetnick. "Their immune system tends to be incomplete."

Hmm..not good news for me. I *have* to be as clean as possible because of the peritoneal dialysis that I am on. Before connecting to the machine at night, patients are told to wash their hands for *at least* 3 minutes with anti-bacterial soap AND use Purell right before handing the catheter and the dialysis solution bags (gotta use the Purell when disconnecting too). Knock wood, I haven't been sick in a while. And I mean *really* sick, like the flu or anything. I attribute that to a pretty good immune system.

I'm afraid that if in the event that I get a kidney transplant, that will change because of the cocktail of immunosuppressants that patients have to take every day to avoid rejection of the organ. Wonder what those scientists at The Scripps Research Institute say about transplanted patients who have to be cleaner than clean every single day (and to try to avoid sick people during the first couple of months after surgery....not easy to do).

*sighs* I can see me now: I'm going to become such a phobic about germs....

[limey]

Originally posted by ladysycamore


Hmm..not good news for me. I *have* to be as clean as possible because of the peritoneal dialysis that I am on.

As I understand it, these studies are about the environment people grow up in, rather than the ones they live in as adults. I think your autoimmune system is configured early in life. There have been studies here (in Europe, or UK, can't remember which) which seem to show that asthma is more prevalent now for the same sorts of reasons [wheeze].

[elSicomoro]

Though the study is new, the subject is not...medical folks have been warning about germophobia and its effects for a while now.

Riding public transit every day should be more than enough exposure for me.

[Brigliadore]

I read some study a year or so ago that said that children who are raised in homes with pets are far less likely to develop asthma and allergies then children raised in homes without pets. I don't remember how less likely they said they were but I remember it was a pretty large margin.

[Nothing But Net]

Then please, allow me to blow my secondhand smoke at you.

You will be less likely to get lung cancer.

[plthijinx]

which smoke?