[lbo-talk] "Fight Against Germs Fuels Allergy Increase"

[B.]

[This is interesting intellectual ammo because I've
known people who oppose immigration [into the US] not
because they're racist or xenophobic, of course, but
because "they" bring germs, diseases, and other
unclean things. This explanation has always annoyed me
and seemed like a cop out -- masking racism in
"objective science." Although I think if you have to
use the below in a debate with someone you've probably
already caved into their argument too much. -B.]




Too Clean? Fight Against Germs Fuels Allergy Increase

Jeanna Bryner
LiveScience Staff Writer
LiveScience.comFri Sep 14, 10:45 AM ET

A dose of dirt could be the best medicine for
preventing allergies in kids who've never had them.

While avoiding excessive contact with germs can help
prevent the spread of infections, going overboard with
cleanliness could be at least partly responsible for
an increase in allergies among children, mounting
research suggests.

"We’ve developed a cleanlier lifestyle, and our bodies
no longer need to fight germs as much as they did in
the past," said Marc McMorris, a pediatric allergist
at the University of Michigan Health System. "As a
result, the immune system has shifted away from
fighting infection to developing more allergic
tendencies."

More than 50 percent of Americans ages 6 to 59 years
are sensitive to at least one allergen, according to a
national survey conducted from 1988 to 1994 by the
National Institutes of Health. That's two to five
times higher than rates found in a previous 1976 to
1980 survey.

Recent research has found evidence for the so-called
hygiene hypothesis, which explains how more sterile
environments can lead to higher rates of illness. For
instance, scientists in Germany recently found
children exposed to farm animals (and the associated
bacteria and other microbes hiding out there) were
about half as likely as other children to develop the
autoimmune illness Crohn's disease.

More animal helpers

Allergies are a reaction by the body's immune system
to foreign, yet generally innocuous, substances,
including pollen, mold, animal dander, dust and
certain foods that it deems harmful. If your immune
system has never or rarely detected even the natural
background level of such substances, it can go haywire
when contact does occur.

"Allergies are on the rise because our society has
changed the way we live," McMorris said, adding that
"as a result, people with allergies are having
children with others who have allergies, which in turn
creates a natural increase in the prevalence of
allergies in our society.”

In addition to exposure to farm animals, dogs and cats
kept as pets could also help children avoid developing
allergies. A study published in a 2002 issue of JAMA
concluded that children living in a house with two or
more dogs or cats during their first year of life were
much less likely to develop allergic diseases compared
with children raised without pets.

"Epidemiology would suggest if there are 10 cats in
the homes, [kids] are less likely to develop
allergies," said Bruce Bochner, director of the
Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology at Johns
Hopkins School of Medicine.

More research is needed, however, to pin down exactly
what's going on. Bochner said one flaw with these
studies is that homes with pet-allergic kids are not
likely to have lots of pets.

The dirty truth

>From the constant use of anti-bacterial soap for dish-
and hand-washing to air-tight seals around doors and
windows, some modern homes have become shrines to
hygiene. Add vaccinations and antibiotics to the mix
and the body's immune system can get too much
artificial reprieve from nature.

"The natural immune system does not have as much to do
as it did 50 years ago, because we've increased our
efforts to protect our children from dirt and germs,"
McMorris said in a statement released this month.

Plus, the atrophy of family size means children get
exposed to fewer germs than the more kid-filled homes
of yesteryear. Families with three or more children, a
dynamic that was common decades ago, tend to have
fewer allergies as they are exposed to more bacteria-
and virus-harboring siblings, McMorris said.

The battle against bugs doesn't have to come to an
end, but finding a balance between healthy living and
clean living is a must, scientists advise, although
Bochner notes the jury is still out on the
over-exposure approach.

"We don't know at this point whether we should be
exposing people to lots of allergens at an early age
and get them tolerant [or not]," Bochner said in a
telephone interview. "All we really know is once you
become allergic, since exposure triggers symptoms, the
best way to deal with that is to reduce your
exposure."

McMorris says we've gone too far though with
germ-avoidance.

"I don't think we should put kids in a bubble,"
McMorris told LiveScience. At the end of the day, he
said, parents should just let kids be kids.


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