Do Parasites Protect Us?
Department:
Health Care
Teaser:
"Some of the worms and germs we've been warding off may actually keep us well. One solution, some scientists say, is to welcome them back"
Link:
Source:
Scientific American Download time: Dec 18 2010 7:57 AM ET
I met William Parker just two days before World Toilet Day, an international campaign to break taboos about, yes, potties. It's a subject not many like to talk about. The cause is a critical one: access to sanitation and safe drinking water are key to preventing a host of diseases. But a growing body of research suggests there may be a dark side to clean living.
According to one theory, first proposed in the 1980s, the super-sanitized lifestyle of the western world may have curtailed some diseases but created new ones. The prevalence of asthma, allergies, and a number of autoimmune-related ills —from rheumatoid arthritis to Type I diabetes—has skyrocketed in recent decades, especially in wealthy countries. "Roughly 4 in 10 Americans suffer from allergies, and nearly 1 in 10 develop an autoimmune disorder," Parker said. "We generally don't see these diseases in developing countries." …
