5 ms·

This fits with the “hygiene hypothesis,” which says that when children are exposed to germs early in life, their immune system gets trained to attack germs, rat

by jobu 10y ago

This fits with the “hygiene hypothesis,” which says that when children are exposed to germs early in life, their immune system gets trained to attack germs, rather than attacking itself as we see in allergies, asthma, and eczema It would be interesting to see an allergy study on kids raised in their own home vs those that grew up in a group childcare setting. Speaking from experience as a parent, those places are like petri dishes for vile diseases. It seems like that would be a much more thorough exposure to disease than playing in the dirt and sucking a thumb.

ivankirigin 10y ago
Probably a lot more hand sanitizer and other precautions that aren't in your house too.
eitally 10y ago
You end up with highly contagious pathogens that you'd never find in your home (Hand, Foot & Mouth, for example) and higher incidence of things like conjunctivitis, but since everyone in licensed group care facilities is vaccinated against the real baddies, that stuff is no more frequent. What parents bank on is that the persistent coughs & colds that are so common will eventually lead to stronger immune systems. As a parent of 2 elementary school kids who both did group daycare/preschool, I have 0 useful data to share. My kids got sick regularly in preschool, don't get sick as often in elementary school, but when one gets sick (with a viral infection) generally everyone else in the family still gets sick, too.
pavel_lishin 10y ago
I'd also be curious about children who grow up in rural, suburban and urban areas. I live in New York, I often forget to wash my hands when I come home from riding the subway and start hugging my kid one of whose favorite games is "chew on dad". I'm trying to balance out the fear of her catching some exotic imported disease with the hope that her immune system is getting used to handling a variety of invaders.
tominous 10y ago
The type of germs that kids share with each other are different to what you can pick up from the dirt. I suspect (though I would love to find evidence) that upper respiratory infections are far more common today than they were in the past. We now have dense cities, global travel, compulsory schooling, and a large global population for colds and flus to diversify in. On the other hand we have less exposure to the bacteria and parasites that live in the dirt and on animals. They trigger (and modulate) a different part of the immune system associated with allergies.

by jobu 10y ago

ivankirigin 10y ago

Probably a lot more hand sanitizer and other precautions that aren't in your house too.

eitally 10y ago

You end up with highly contagious pathogens that you'd never find in your home (Hand, Foot & Mouth, for example) and higher incidence of things like conjunctivitis, but since everyone in licensed group care facilities is vaccinated against the real baddies, that stuff is no more frequent. What parents bank on is that the persistent coughs & colds that are so common will eventually lead to stronger immune systems. As a parent of 2 elementary school kids who both did group daycare/preschool, I have 0 useful data to share. My kids got sick regularly in preschool, don't get sick as often in elementary school, but when one gets sick (with a viral infection) generally everyone else in the family still gets sick, too.

pavel_lishin 10y ago

I'd also be curious about children who grow up in rural, suburban and urban areas. I live in New York, I often forget to wash my hands when I come home from riding the subway and start hugging my kid one of whose favorite games is "chew on dad". I'm trying to balance out the fear of her catching some exotic imported disease with the hope that her immune system is getting used to handling a variety of invaders.

tominous 10y ago

The type of germs that kids share with each other are different to what you can pick up from the dirt. I suspect (though I would love to find evidence) that upper respiratory infections are far more common today than they were in the past. We now have dense cities, global travel, compulsory schooling, and a large global population for colds and flus to diversify in. On the other hand we have less exposure to the bacteria and parasites that live in the dirt and on animals. They trigger (and modulate) a different part of the immune system associated with allergies.