• Question: do you think we are to healthy? As we discover more antibiotics for viruses and disease are our immune systems becoming to weak to fight off a new virus or disease?

    Asked by martha to Jen, Jill, Mel, Phil, Stef on 14 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: Phil Rice

      Phil Rice answered on 14 Mar 2013:

      There is a “hygiene hypothesis” which says that the lack of exposure to foreign antigens such as proteins and carbohydrates which would have previously stimulated our immune system don’t do so now because of improved hygiene, less overcrowding, disinfectants, immunisation etc, has led to an increase in allergic type illness. Stef may have more to say on this, but personally I would rather be alive now than in the days when if you broke your leg, for example, you stood a 50% chance of dying.

    • Photo: Stefan Piatek

      Stefan Piatek answered on 15 Mar 2013:

      I’m with Phil, we’re a lot less likely to die. Even something like childbirth which is now very safe used to be very very risky. As phil said, there is the problem that being so clean, we’re not getting infections that we normally do, so start attacking normally harmless things. There is an idea to give ourselves non-harmful infections so that we don’t get these allergies – should be interesting to see if we’re prescribed worms and bacteria in the next couple of decades!

      Another major problem is that bacteria are getting more and more resistant to antibiotics because a lot of the time we’re using them too much! This will make it a real problem for people who can’t control the infections on their own (like HIV patients, the very young or very old)

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