• Sign up
  • ‎What is Shvoong?‎
  • Sign In
    Sign In
    Remember my username Forgot your password?

Summaries and Short Reviews

.

Shvoong Home>Medicine & Health>Immunology>Healing Power of Germs Summary

.

Healing Power of Germs

Article Summary by: Jedor    

Original Author: Peter Jaret
Probably, we should attempt to have more contact with germs, as exposure to them can keep us healthier, which is very true
during childhood. Thomas Ball discovered in one 2002 report that children who went to day care during their first three years were exposed to more germs and had less colds when they began school compared to those who remained at home. He says that having contact with viruses from young prepares the immune system, causing it able to fend off germs easier. Ball's research shows that contact with germs appears to protect us against asthma and allergic condition. Besides that, intestinal parasites can protect us too. In developed countries, as pinworm infection decreases, a condition called inflammatory bowel disease increases. IBD is less in developing countries, where intestinal parasites are more common. Our body's natural defences grow normally only when they have enough attackers to respond to. Under opposite condition, our immune system will turn against healthy tissue, causing allergies or conditions like IBD. Although we should not give up on hygiene, but germs can help us too. In a study, Joel Weinstock infected eight IBD patients with harmless intestinal worms and seven of them eventually recovered. Maybe someday, probiotics, will be used in the medical world, same as antibiotics.
Published: October 25, 2009
Please Rate this Review : 1 2 3 4 5

Bookmark & share this post

.