Dirt can be good for children

Acute dermatitis.

"Dirt can be good for children,

say scientists."

Children should be allowed to getdirty, according to scientists who have found being too clean can impair the skin's ability to heal.

Normal bacteria living on the skin trigger a pathway that helps prevent inflammation when we get hurt, the US team discovered.The bugs dampen down overactive immune responses that can cause cuts and grazes to swell, they say.Their work is published in the online edition of Nature Medicine.

Experts said the findings provided an explanation for the "hygiene hypothesis", which holds that exposure to germs during early childhood primes the body against allergies.

Many believe our obsession with cleanliness is to blame for the recent boom in allergies in developed countries.

This is the story published in the BBC, quoted above. It is quite possible that immunity develops to a particular agent if one is exposed to it, somewhat like vaccines act. It has been seen that, allergy is less in the home, where there are cats. But that does not mean hygiene of babies will not be looked after.

Keeping Clean

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