Rat study shows dirty better than clean

Rat study shows dirty better than clean

By SETH BORENSTEIN
AP SCIENCE WRITER

WASHINGTON -- Gritty rats and mice living in sewers and farms seem to have healthier immune systems than their squeaky clean cousins that frolic in cushy antiseptic labs, two studies indicate. The lesson for humans: Clean living may make us sick.

The studies give more weight to a 17-year-old theory that the sanitized Western world may be partly to blame for soaring rates of human allergy and asthma cases and some autoimmune diseases, such as Type I diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. The theory, called the hygiene hypothesis, figures that people's immune systems aren't being challenged by disease and dirt early in life, so the body's natural defenses overreact to small irritants such as pollen.


When the immune cells in the wild rats are stimulated by researchers, "they just don't do anything they sit there; if you give them same stimulus to the lab rats, they go crazy," said study co-author Dr. William Parker, a Duke University professor of experimental surgery. He compared lab rodents to more than 50 wild rats and mice captured and killed in cities and farms.

Also, the wild mice and rats had as much as four times higher levels of immunoglobulins, yet weren't sick, showing an immune system tuned to fight crucial germs, but not minor irritants, Parker said. He said what happened in the lab rats is what likely occurs in humans: their immune systems have got it so cushy they overreact to smallest of problems.

more:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_Dirty_Rats.html

When all the "rich" kids/babies were dying and the "poor kids" were thriving. The "rich" kids were being brought up in too sterile of an environment and had no chance to develop their immune systems.


I don't use "antibacterial soap" products in the house. (I'll keep wipes for the car and on the go, but that's it.)

may well be carcinogenic. Many of the ingredients are closely related to Agent Orange. I advise everyone I know NOT to use that stuff. It's dangerous to them directly and then affects the water supply.

I simply hate that stuff.

counter productive.......

I didn't realize about the carcinogenic factor. Something I'll need to check on. Thanks.

for washing hands. But there are concerns about what it does to the environment. So, for no benefit, we are risking the environment by dumping unnecessary and ineffective (for the purpose people purchase them) chemicals down the drain.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-antibacterial10may10,1,5967599.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&track=crosspromo

Using anti-bacterial just keeps your body from developing it's own immunity....

I do like to have wipes of some kind, though - for emergencies where there's no water/soap. I kept mini bottles of the waterless kind always in my pocket when we went overseas.

there is an old world phrase that goes something like "we all eat a shovel of dirt before we die"

through breathing, eating, and just the periodic swallowing we all do.

And guess what? It doesn't hurt us one bit.

I used to be a big proponent of antibacterial sprays in the kitchen, to avoid salmonella and such. I just finished using the last bottle I'll be buying cleaning my old apartment.

What should I use to clean my countertops? Bleach? Rubbing alcohol?

not combined, of course. Both evaporate pretty well, but bleach doesn't smell as bad (in my opinion)

My pediatrician told me to be clean but not to fret if they ate dirt, bugs or put things in their mouths that were not freshly washed. This is exactly the reason he gave me too. Their friends whose parents were constantly washing their hands and toys and grabbing them out of the dirt were sick much more than my kids were. Anecdotal but it makes sense.

"Young children who contract polio may sometimes suffer only mild symptoms, and as a result they may become permanently immune to the disease. Hence inhabitants of areas with better sanitation may actually be more susceptible to polio because fewer people have the disease as young children."

Here's to common sense and a more natural existence :toast: (with a slighty dirty glass ;) )

When my friends would freak out if their kids got dirty. Mine played in the mud all the time, and I spent extra time playing with them instead of making sure the house was antiseptic clean.

We are rarely ever sick (other than occasional hayfever) while those kids get sniffles and colds all the time. I really can't remember the last time one of us had a cold.

It's nice to know I was right all along. :D