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Post by Platypus on Apr 22, 2009 6:01:25 GMT -5
www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2009/04/22/2549445.htm?site=science&topic=healthQuote "Having lice may not be such a bad thing, with a UK study finding infested mice have calmer immune systems. The study, published in the BioMed Central journal BMC Biology, adds to evidence supporting the so-called hygiene hypothesis, which suggests the rise in asthma and allergies can be linked to hyper-clean living." End quote. I don't fancy going out and trapping lice to put in kids hair. 
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Post by iprocrastinate on Apr 22, 2009 11:08:53 GMT -5
 I'm not sure about lice making one healthier, but I know that they actually prefer clean hair. My next door neighbor was a high school teacher. Her school had one really bad outbreak. Thr girls with the sparkling long clean hair were being targetted. The guys (guess you could call them "greasers" who had longer unkempt dirty hair rarely were found to have lice when they were checked. Who knew lice are persnickety about where they live and lay their little eggs!! 
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Post by limegreen on Apr 22, 2009 20:34:44 GMT -5
Since lice walk and don't leap or fly, they travel by head to head contact, so the shiny haired girls who huddle together allow the lice to wander from head to head whereas who wants to snuggle up close to a greaser? The guys get their heads together more often in sport. I had a judo playing cousin who was always picking up lice. The lice aren't bothered about the heads they feed on, it's just a question of opportunity.
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Post by Platypus on Apr 22, 2009 21:08:29 GMT -5
I have read other reports that link the rise in allergic reaction to peanuts to the lack of stomach worms. Apparently, as we became a cleaner society, the substances that would usually attack the worms attack peanuts. Isn't the body weird?
I think this applies more to the hyper-cleanies whose kids never get to play in playground or in a sandbox 'because of germs'. Of course kids shouldn't live in squalor or have headlice cultivated on their head, but when advertisenents tell us to disinfect every surface in the home 'to protect our precious ones' they are being very manipulative and may be causing harm.
I grew up on farms and while we were taught strict personal hygiene and to always wash our hands after touching animals and before eating, we wre exposed to every kind of dirt and mess you could imagine. We never got sick and grew up to be pretty robust.
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Post by gettingsomewhere on Apr 22, 2009 21:44:05 GMT -5
i agree platy. i hadn't read the reports re peanuts and worms but i have often worried about the children of my super cleany friends who have these allergies and also many respiratory problems. i used to think that these problems may have been caused by too much exposure to bleach and harsh chemicals.
who knows.
saying that, we have big problems with headlice at times.
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Post by Platypus on Apr 22, 2009 22:35:46 GMT -5
I think you could be right about the harsh chemicals and bleach. Bleach kills mould though but the room probably should be aired out to get rid of the fumes. The personal care workers who come to our house for DH can only use certain brands of cleaning products for OH&S reasons. I was given a list of stuff to buy and it's even down to just one or two types within a product. For instance, with Ajax Spray & Wipe, its only regular, lemon or citris, but none of the other fragrances.  Other weird stuff: Did you know painters (trade, not artists) were found to have a higher rate of offspring with genetic problems according to some research. And jet fighter pilots and elite athletes father more girls than boys.  BTW I hoard odd bits of info.  |
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