Are We Ruining Our Immune Systems?

I saw something odd the other day; I was walking at the local park, and happened to pass by the playground, where I saw a mother using a set of disinfectant wipes on the slide before allowing her child to play on it. I can understand a parent's instinct to protect their child, but when does that protection bleed over into overblown paranoia?

The world is, as a fact, a messy place, full of germs. To combat that, humans and most other creatures have developed powerful immune systems to protect us from those germs. That immune system relies on antibodies - proteins produced by your white blood cells - and those antibodies are created in response to the presence of certain antigens. Read that again, carefully. Antibodies are reactive - until the body is exposed to a certain antigen, it doesn't create the antibodies to combat it. It's similar to the Antivirus program on your computer: the Antivirus programs work by using a database of virus definitions to identify and quarantine infected files, but those definitions are only released after a virus is detected somewhere on the Internet, because the companies that create the virus definitions need to understand what a virus does and how it attacks your computer before they can come up with a solution to it.

Similarly, your body needs to detect a germ and figure out what it does before it can create an antibody to combat that germ. This means that, early on, you may catch more colds, but in the long run, your body develops a healthy immune system. Sterilizing our environments only starves our immune systems: while disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizers and more may reduce our exposure to germs and, in a way, keep us safer from disease, it means that when we do come into contact with germs, our body is less equipped to respond to the threat. That's not to say that it's not a good idea to keep hand sanitizer handy during, say, a flu epidemic, but it means that we should do our best to avoid slipping into germophobia: not every germ is lethal, and most won't even break through the immune system, so trying to protect against them all is a waste of time and effort.

I would contend that children, in particular, suffer the most from overblown germophobia. Developing a strong immune system early on ensures a healthy body throughout the rest of a person's life, and robbing the still-developing system of the germs it needs to build its defenses may hinder the body's efforts to fight off disease later in life. Do your children a favor and be moderate in your efforts to keep them safe from germs. They should grow up confident that their body will protect them, not terrified that every messy thing will lead to a life-threatening disease.