Dubai: The news is not likely to make parents happy but children will in all probability jump for joy. A study says that protecting children in an over-clean atmosphere at home and outside is more likely to damage their immunity than allowing them to live in a less-than-spotless environment. Evidence is growing that dirt and germs can protect against disease — and that our indoor-based, ultra-clean lifestyles are bad for our health.
It is said that without exposure to dirt and germs early in life, the immune system doesn’t learn how to control its reaction to invaders such as dust and pollen. The latest evidence comes from Harvard Medical School, which conducted studies that show the critical importance of proper immune conditioning by microbes during the earliest periods of life.
Professor Graham Rook of University College London warned skimping on cleanliness could let other, dangerous bugs take hold of children’s lives.
Dr S.M. Anees agrees with the findings. Children living in a sterile environment in the UAE, according to him, are more susceptible to viral infections and easily pick up bugs.
“Though there are better cleanliness standards here, children come for medical help with repeated infections,” says Dr S.M. Anees, specialist paediatrician, Medcare Hospital.
The number of cases goes up especially during seasonal changes and when schools reopen after the holidays. This also could be because parents do not keep their children home when they are sick, believing it to be a minor illness. “The child then goes on to spread the virus,” he says.
The doctor says he has come across similar findings in studies done elsewhere. In a study done in India some years ago, “When the antibodies to infections were checked in children who were playing all the time outside, or in underprivileged children romping on the streets, it was found their immunity was much better than children living in a sterile environment,” he says.
“If you look at history, the human development, it shows that those who were exposed to germs develop immunity over time. Research shows when children are exposed to viral infections in early infancy and childhood, the chances are high they will grow up with less health problems,” says the paediatrician.
He refers to another study that states that children living in a sterile environment are more likely to suffer from heart disease or strokes later in life.
Parental paranoia
However, he clarifies that this does not mean that you should challenge your child’s immunity and push them into germ-laden areas. At the same time, parental paranoia over children catching a cold or falling sick is also not necessary. “Do not be paranoid over cleanliness,” he says.
He recounts how a mother once told him that she washes her child’s toys every morning, rubbing every surface with anti-bacterial liquid. “If your child does not get an infection, how will his immunity be challenged?” he asks.
Infections, he says, are not harmful over the long-term.
“Once the infection is gone, the child will learn to fight it better the next time [since his immunity had been challenged].” However, he points out that the bugs are more clever than us as, “They keep changing their structure, [and] we can’t control the infections.”
Having said that, cleanliness is a high priority to ward off infections. The issue at stake is not about cleanliness per se which is unquestionable but about the balance maintaining hygiene without subjecting children to a lack of immunity.
On matters of general hygiene, he says: “Your general hygiene should be good. You should wash hands frequently and try to not to get exposed to people who are infected.”
The rules of hygiene, he says, are the same for all age groups. “Who’s to blame if the younger child gets infected? It is the older sibling or the parent,” he says. The older child should be taught not to kiss or cough on the baby and to wash their hands before touching the baby.
‘Chickenpox parties’
It’s also important to teach children the rules of hygiene in a way they can understand. For example, a four-year-old will understand the need to wash his hands before mealtimes and when there is a cough or cold he has acquired but a two-year-old will need someone to wash his hands for him.
He talks of the days of “chickenpox parties” when parents who had a child with chickenpox would hold parties for children who had not been infected. They believed that it was better for the children to be exposed earlier and get it over with. But those days are gone. “The child would be miserable for weeks. Now we have vaccines and the child is well protected.”
On another note, the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), he says, has set up schedules for the various vaccinations and parents should follow the schedule. Even though the flu vaccine is not mandatory in the UAE it is better to get children vaccinated against influenza before the onset of winter, he says. “We recommend the vaccine, even for children in nurseries. It works for one year.
“Some parents are worried the vaccine will give the child a fever, but there is an extremely low chance that the child will get a fever after the vaccination.”
As for pollution and the weather: “If a child has a history of wheezing then let him stay at home,” he advises. “Schools also should make sure children are not out in the play areas or at assembly when there’s a dust storm. Asthma can be triggered by dusty weather.”
