[tacticalogic]

He claimed that the antibiotics were not actually creating the "superbugs", but that the "superbugs" already existed. The "everyday" bugs were being killed-off routinely by the antibiotics, making incidents of infection by the "superbugs" seem more serious.

I think that part of the problem is that we've gone overboard on making everything "sanitary" - we're crippling our immune systems from disuse. You read about people getting deathly ill from e-coli they got in a burger at a fast food place, but never about anyone who lives on a ranch or cattle farm getting ill from it, and they're exposed to it every day.

[Ignatz]

That's pretty interesting. I grew up on a farm, and believe me, I was in direct contact with animal wastes on a daily basis. I never had an e.coli infection. You may be on to something, tl!

[djf]

"I think that part of the problem is that we've gone overboard on making everything "sanitary" - we're crippling our immune systems from disuse."


A few years ago, on Nova???, there was a blurb about a bunch of folks living in a commune... Virginia I think. Once a week, as part of their Wednesday supper, they'd eat a salad of stuff they grew.. a salad with a teaspoonful of garden dirt on it. Results?? Major illnesses were unheard of, and colds, flus, etc were extremely, extremely rare. Their white blood cells probably look like one of the critters in "Aliens"!