Early Exposure To Germs Has Lasting Benefits 136
ananyo writes "Exposure to germs in childhood is thought to help strengthen the immune system and protect children from developing allergies and asthma, but the pathways by which this occurs have been unclear. Now, researchers have identified a mechanism in mice that may explain the role of exposure to microbes in the development of asthma and ulcerative colitis, a common form of inflammatory bowel disease. The researchers show that in mice, exposure to microbes in early life can reduce the body's inventory of invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells, which help to fight infection but can also turn on the body, causing a range of disorders such as asthma or inflammatory bowel disease (abstract). The study supports the 'hygiene hypothesis,' which contends that such auto-immune diseases are more common in the developed world where the prevalence of antibiotics and antibacterials reduce children's exposure to microbes."
Re:Of course it is (Score:5, Informative)
Typically these numbers include an extremely high infant mortality rate, without which the difference is significantly smaller.
"Unclean. Un-Unclean..." (Score:3, Informative)
Am I the only one who gets a titch annoyed with people who carry antibac-hand-gel everywhere to use at the SLIGHTEST of exposure to the world? I'm not talking people who use it when going to the doc's or at the grocery store if they're touching meat and stuff, but every. damned. time they touch any-thing at all. They're not even germaphobic, it just seems the 'in-thing'. Every time I've used it, I feel like I've taken a dive into an six-foot deep alcohol pool, and it burns.
Re:Of course it is (Score:4, Informative)
That's more of a result than a cause. Most other mammals don't have a menopause.
Only a few: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100701103405.htm [sciencedaily.com]
Re:Of course it is (Score:3, Informative)