Question

“Babies Know: A Little Dirt is Good for You” By Jane E. Brody, NY Times, January 27, 2009 What is this hypothesis called and what does it say? What immune diseases have increased as sanitation has improved? How are intestinal worms being used to treat disease? What role do T cells play in some autoimmune diseases? If you really want a healthy child, how will you accomplish that (according to this article)? What is the best protection against germs?

Answer 1

Ans.

The hypothesis is called hygiene hypothesis and it says that along with dirt the bacteria, viruses and worms which enter our body are crucial for the development of healthy immune system.

Diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, asthma and allergies have increased as sanitation has improved.

intestinal worms are being used to treat diseases as they can modulate the immune systems in different ways which helps in treating autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis and inflammatory and allergic diseases.

there are four subtypes of T cells i.e., Th 1, Th 2, Th 17 and regulatory T cells. A lot of inflammatory diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis and asthma are due to the activity of Th 17 cells.

According to this article Children should be allowed to go barefoot in the dirt, play in the dirt, and not have to wash their hands when they come in to eat as children who grow up on farms and are frequently exposed to worms and other organisms from farm animals are much less likely to develop allergies and autoimmune diseases.also having pets like dogs and cat can expose them to intestinal worms that can promote a healthy immune system.