3 ms·

By that logic, we shouldn't be fighting malaria in Africa either. Are there any benefits to toxoplasmosis besides some people finding the vector cute? The alte

By that logic, we shouldn't be fighting malaria in Africa either. Are there any benefits to toxoplasmosis besides some people finding the vector cute? The alternative isn't living in a sterile bubble.

colechristensen 6mo ago
Without infections your immune system gets bored and starts attacking you. You need to have something for your immune system to do on a regular basis. Toxo is to a very large degree asymptomatic. You are full of and covered with organisms. Being paranoid about infection isn't helpful to anyone. Ok you don't like cats, that's fine, but are you as passionate about rare steak which is a much more common vector? Malaria... is not asymptomatic.
- duskdozer 6mo ago
  You will have plenty of exposure to microbes simply by existing outside of a sealed sterile chamber, and microbes != pathogens. There's no need to encourage exposure to and infection by pathogens, and this idea often results in increased risk or severity of disease. See: "chickenpox party" intentional exposure of children to varicella, putting them at risk of shingles as adults, with the risk increasing the younger they are at the time of infection. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis?useskin=vector https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis?useskin=vec...
  - colechristensen 6mo ago
    >There's no need to encourage exposure to and infection by pathogens, and this idea often results in increased risk or severity of disease. Here's research into intentional infection with a parasite to treat autoimmune diseases https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5401880/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5401880/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Friends_hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Friends_hypothesis
KingMob 6mo ago
That's not a great comparison. Malaria is dangerous to almost everyone it infects, while T. gondii is harmless to the vast majority of the human race.

colechristensen 6mo ago

Without infections your immune system gets bored and starts attacking you. You need to have something for your immune system to do on a regular basis. Toxo is to a very large degree asymptomatic. You are full of and covered with organisms. Being paranoid about infection isn't helpful to anyone. Ok you don't like cats, that's fine, but are you as passionate about rare steak which is a much more common vector? Malaria... is not asymptomatic.

duskdozer 6mo ago
You will have plenty of exposure to microbes simply by existing outside of a sealed sterile chamber, and microbes != pathogens. There's no need to encourage exposure to and infection by pathogens, and this idea often results in increased risk or severity of disease. See: "chickenpox party" intentional exposure of children to varicella, putting them at risk of shingles as adults, with the risk increasing the younger they are at the time of infection. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis?useskin=vector https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis?useskin=vec...
- colechristensen 6mo ago
  >There's no need to encourage exposure to and infection by pathogens, and this idea often results in increased risk or severity of disease. Here's research into intentional infection with a parasite to treat autoimmune diseases https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5401880/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5401880/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Friends_hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Friends_hypothesis

KingMob 6mo ago

That's not a great comparison. Malaria is dangerous to almost everyone it infects, while T. gondii is harmless to the vast majority of the human race.