Miracle in the Dirt (not that dirt)

  

I and a lot of people have often wondered why it is that the relatively well off people are prone to sickness rather than those who live in poverty areas. I know of a politician’s daughter who died from eating street food. I also know individuals who cannot eat food other than what their family prepared because of fear of getting some stomach bugs or something. There is this fear of microbes and germs and bacteria that they observe the most stringent hygiene they can well afford. But why is it that they are more prone to infection than the unwashed.

Of course, for someone like me who grew up in a depressed area, children playing in the dirt are a common sight. I also grew up like this, playing in the dirt, swimming in the carabao pond, catching catfish and mudfish in the drainage canals, eating junkfoods without washing hands, etc.  For those who are relatively more educated (like me, now) and well off (not like me) are shocked at this sight but what is significantly true is that these children seldom get sick and if they do get sick, they recover quite easily with little or no intervention from doctors unlike the well off whose first instinct at a sign of a fever is to go to a doctor and bombard their children with medicines.

Of course, the theory is that exposure to dirt, grimes and other unhygienic stuff boosts the unwashed immunity against bugs—this is both a theory and a joke, stinging joke, may I add. 

We use antibacterial soap to wash our hands, we swab doorknobs with antibacterial wipes, we pop antibiotics at the first sign of disease - all to avoid infection. But we are all infected. From before birth to after death, infection is what makes humans human. In a startling, chilling, and inspiring narrative, veteran microbiologist, and author Gerald Callahan, explores the world of the microscopic creatures that live on, in, and around us. Did you know that: our overuse of antibiotics is placing us on then cusp of a resurgence of diseases we had thought long conquered? and, many ailments - from schizophrenia and gastric ulcers to obsessive-compulsive disorder - are now being linked to infections? Infection will awaken you to the microscopic brethren that ensure our health as well as take it from us. For better or worse, infection shapes our lives. From book jacket

I am reading a book (sale) that I bought from National Bookstore titled “Infection: The Uninvited Universe” by Gerald Callahan and there was a chapter about what I have mentioned about: The Miracle in the Dirt: The Hygiene Hypothesis p. 223 ff. The book cited a research done on the two Germanys, the well off West and the poverty stricken communist East and Dr Mutius, the researcher, has come up with some startling conclusions that seem counter intuitive to what we have been taught about hygiene.

1. Children who grew up in the dirtiest conditions had the fewest allergies and asthma.
2. Long term and early exposure to stables and farm milk induces a strong protective effect against the development of astha.
3. Childhood exposure to bacyeria, particularly a group called gram-negative bacteria, correlates inversely with the frequency of asthma among school age children in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland.
4. There was also a research in Boston where investigators collected dust samples from infants’ bedrooms floors, mattresses , family rooms, kitchens and the result correlated with Dr. Mutius research.
5. The higher the level of endotoxin in children’s mattresses, the lower the incidence of asthma.
6. The more bacteria the children have been exposed to, the healthier they are.

I am still reading the book. Of course, I don’t pretend to understand any of this stuff and I don't know if the research is applicable or could be duplicated here in the Philippines because ours is a tropical country etc. blah, blah, blah,  but it just shows misconception abound. Anyway, always be aware of the caveats…good reading though.