Immunity

[1ARMEDBANDIT]

There was a news report yesterday which stated older people born 1930-40 are less likely to get swine flu as they have a better immune system owing to the fact they have been in contact with and built an immunity to many viruses for many years during childhood.

Therefore do you think it`s detrimental to our youngsters to be in a 99% sterile environment that`s advertised on TV constantly?

Do you think that we should throw away all our antiseptic wipes, floor cleaners, bleach sprays etc. Be clean but not sterile. I say for the benefit of future generations WE SHOULD, other wise our bodies will lose the ability to fight deseases.

The doctors are reporting the over-use of antibiotics, I say they should start worrying about the over-use of antibacterial sprays and the like.

[redcrx]

i once knew a woman who would go through a bottle of antibac spray a day!!! no kidding!
both of her children picked up every single bug going as did she!
Its like sterilising babies bottles, the day my boy was found licking the underside of a shoe i thought, why am i worrying so much, germs help build up immunity, let them ingest some.

[LazyGun]

If you are willing to wish upon and accept a lower life expectancy, more and wider general chronic illnesses amongst the population, costing society more in their treatments snd absenteeism,and a much greater incidence of childhood incidence and mortalilty.

I mean, where are you drawing the line between cleanliness and hygiene and overmedication?

Should we all live like wayne and waynetta slob from the harry enfield show?

[PeteHull]

It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person but what comes out....
Whatever goes into the mouth passes right through and ends up in the sewer.
What comes out of the mouth can cause caos and mahem throughout the world.

[1ARMEDBANDIT]

There is a big difference between living like Wayne and Waynetta slob and just ditching the antibacterial sprays.
Thats like saying if we give up eating meulsi for breakfast we will revert back to cavemen.

As Harry Enfield say`s (is that want you want because that`s what you`ll have)

Just close the gap in your argument a little.

[LazyGun]

You are conflating an issue about the older generation and their hypothetical increased resistance to swine flu and using this as a claimed beneficial side effect of an alleged reduced concern over cleanliness in past generations, compared with a generalised overemphasis on cleanliness today.

Of course, the reason why the older generation might have a greater immunity to swine flu has nothing at all to do with a kind of generalised improved immunity as a result of living in a less "antiseptic" environment as you perceive it, and everything to do with the fact that they were around during the 1957 flu epidemic, the active agent of which was very ,very similar to the current H1N1 variant.

I would agree with you on the specific issue that we have had a tendency to oversubscribe antibiotics ( although this culture is changing), and that is potentially dangerous ( witness the spread of MRSA), but I would dispute your assertion that we should be dumping antiseptic sprays, floor cleaners etc.

[redcrx]

I certainly wont dump them, but i wont be going OTT as my friend did.
everything in moderation i reckon :)

[1ARMEDBANDIT]

Why I ask for less use of antibacterial sprays and cleaners etc is I fear our future generations immune systems ability to recognise and fight certain germs and it could be detrimental to our health in years to come.

After all what is in a vacine? A vacine is a diluted form of the desease, it is injected into our body, our immune system recognises it, builds a resistance to it, kills it and remembers it`s make-up for future attacks made by it.

A world of bleach sprays and antibacterials takes this defence away from us. Our bodies need to be subjected to this germ invasion from an early age for us to build a resistance.

And I believe the older generations who lived in clean but not sterile conditions are proof of my theory. The flu I mentioned is only part of and not all proof of their resistance.