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Scientists give grubby children a clean bill of health
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| Parent(s) |
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| Contributor | RP |
| Last Edited | RP Nov 24, 2009 05:49pm |
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| Category | Report |
| Author | Caroline Davies |
| Media | Newspaper - Guardian |
| News Date | Monday, November 23, 2009 11:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | For parents too stretched to make sure their offspring are perfectly turned out at all times, it may just be the scientific cover they've been waiting for.
They will now be able to answer the disapproving tuts of their more fastidious friends by pointing to research which gives biological backing to the old adage that the more germs a child is exposed to during early childhood, the better their immune system in later life
The findings bear out the "hygiene hypothesis", first proposed in the 1980s, which suggests that early childhood exposure to bugs might "prime" the immune system to prevent allergies. It has been used to explain why increasing numbers of children in developed countries, where antibacterial sprays and wipes are common, suffer from allergies such as hay fever and eczema. "The exciting implication of the work is that it provides a molecular basis to understand the hygiene hypothesis," said Prof Gallo. "This may help us to devise new therapeutic approaches for inflammatory skin diseases". |
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