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349 points zdw | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.199s | source
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forgotoldacc ◴[] No.45652698[source]
There was a period of a few decades (I guess still ongoing, really) where parents sheltered their kids from everything. Playing in the dirt, peanuts, other allergens. It seems like all it's done is make people more vulnerable as adults. People assume babies are super fragile and delicate, and in many ways they are, but they also bounce back quickly.

Maybe part of it is a consequence of the risks of honey, which can actually spawn camp infants with botulism. But it seems that fear spread to everything.

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userbinator ◴[] No.45652794[source]
The Hygiene Hypothesis has been around for a long time.

It will be interesting to see what happens with allergies for those who were born in the 2020-2023 timeframe.

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1. duskdozer ◴[] No.45654115[source]
Exposure to microbes and potential allergens relevant to the hygiene hypothesis doesn't seem likely to have changed very much - it's not like people started keeping their babies in sterile bubbles. While lots of wishful thinkers jumped on the concept in recent years, the hygiene hypothesis doesn't apply to disease-causing pathogens like COVID or the flu. But yes, will be something to pay attention to, considering the massive volume of COVID infections and COVID's negative effects on the immune system.