This whole e-coli farm thing...

[HeyWayne]

It's becoming a compensation culture because people won't take responsibility for themselves ... it's always "someone else's fault".

Unfortunately I think we're already there. Too many people want too much for nothing I'm afraid.

[MrsC]

Funny, but I always thought that colds etc were an airborne virus?

[MrsC]

On the dirt=good for the immune system thing...
...I've only just heard about this (I avoid listening to the news because things like this just annoy me) and find myself chuckling.

I came back from the allotment yesterday and ate my tea without washing my hands properly. A quick run under the cold tap to get the worst off but was still grubby as hell when I sat at the table.

I've always been really bad at washing my hands EXCEPT after touching animals I'm allergic to. Cats are still the devil incarnate and really make me itch and sneeze, but dogs hardly affect me at all these days (they used to) and I've got a sneaking suspicion the improvement in my condition is down to my "lack" of hygiene with things like dirt.


As for common sense and personal responsibility. I'm all for it!
Let's ban "no win no fee" lawyers and we'll sort a lot of this out.


When I've got kids I'll TEACH them to make mud pies if they don't figure it out on their own.
"Right, you lot, get out of the house and don't come back until you're covered in mud, have ruined your Sunday best and at least one of you is crying!"



EDIT
Oh yea - and every kid I'm blessed with WILL be getting a pocket knife as soon as they are old enough to learn to use one safely and keep it nice and sharp.

Well said, we think along the same wavelengths

[Two_Sheds]

Funny, but I always thought that colds etc were an airborne virus?

Coughs and sneezes spread diseases ...
The cold virus is actually caught mostly via your nose, ie by touching your face or itching your nose.
Someone sneezes, and minute droplets are scattered on all surfaces. You touch the surfaces, door handles, desks, phones etc and pick up the virus, and then if you touch your mouth or nose, you catch the virus.

If you wash your hands before touching your face, you reduce the risk of infection.

And because I've lost my tonsils and lymph glands in my neck, my first line of defence is down... I catch everything going.

[Jillybean2608]

My little girl is always filthy by the end of the day, I send her out in the morning clean, and she gets so dirty from playing out, I always say that if she's clean, she's not had enough fun! Thankfully, (touch wood) she is a very healthy little girl. It amazes me how many people freak out about a bit of dirt whether its on clothing or on the skin, it all washes off.

I can't imagine not taking her to a petting farm, although she is lucky to have experienced animals on a friend's farm. I can imagine there are a lot of children who don't even get to see farm animals up close.

[enrich100]

I to am a farmers son who went to a farming school

People seem to forget the vacine for Small Pox is exposure to cow pox,

and where would you originally get cow pox from?

Double glazing, Carpeting, and Modern Central heating in modern houses make ideal breeding grounds for germs and bacteria keeping them at a constant temperature
which I think are more of a problem

I grew up in an old farm house sash windows that probably lets as much wind in as they kept out but atleast it was freash air, the heating was at times none exsistant meaning at night the bedrooms would be cold but we had a modern device called an extra blanket which would help keep us warm if we needed it,the lack of carpets meant we had cold feet but to be honest you either get used to it or you get a pair of slippers, the worst experience would be being the first person in the bathroom in the morning on a frosty wintery day and shivering whislt having a wash in the basin until the room warmed up a bit

I'm not saying we should not have modern luxuries but I bet they do more damage than not having them

I'm sure before best before dates were introduce I ate food that had a higher bacteria count as it was slightly past its best and drinking unpasteurised milk since childhood did not seem to do me any damage either, and I never seemed to get ill


I can't hold myself up as the perfect picture of health but my issues are a result of an accident and subsequent complications but prior to this I had no heath issues what so ever

resistance to infections is built up through exposure, if we don't get the exposure we don't get the resistance, it's pretty simple really.

[skegblade]

I think immune systems are not what they used to be, in super hygenic houses with super hygenic nonexposure to germs mean those kids are super sensitive to bugs.

I had a pal at school who caught rhuematic fever when he was four because his mother kept everything around him spotlessly clean, until she was told to stop doing so by her doctor.

[BumbleB]

Its all so contradictory !

[Two_Sheds]

resistance to infections is built up through exposure, if we don't get the exposure we don't get the resistance, it's pretty simple really.

Up to a point.
However, nobody is immune to the common cold, despite being exposed to it all the time. I'd rather not catch it at all, thanks. I'll keep washing my hands.

And people didn't develop immunity to smallpox by being exposed to it ... a vaccine was created.

A friend of ours has just come out of a coma after catching cerebral malaria ... constant exposure to mosquitoes does not result in immunity.

Sensible precautions are what's necessary.

[organic]

Up to a point.
However, nobody is immune to the common cold, despite being exposed to it all the time. I'd rather not catch it at all, thanks. I'll keep washing my hands.

That's the misnomer. There isn't a common cold at all. You're immune to LOADS of "common" colds, each time you get a cold it's a different one.

And people didn't develop immunity to smallpox by being exposed to it ... a vaccine was created.

That vaccine was the pus from Cow Pox lesions... discovered after realising milkmaids who caught cow pox never seemed to get smallpox.
"Exposure" doesn't need to be to the thing in question... exposure to dirt, and germs in general early in life gives the immune system a massive boost.
It's almost like "training".

A friend of ours has just come out of a coma after catching cerebral malaria ... constant exposure to mosquitoes does not result in immunity.

That's a parasite. Different kettle of illness altogether.

Sensible precautions are what's necessary.

I agree completely. Just what constitutes sensible seems to have been lost recently though.

[enrich100]

yes I think perhaps I have over simplified the arguement and I don't pretend to be an expert

I would not come in the house covered head to foot in cow muck and eat my food with out washing, I personally do not eat rotting meat, so yes you are right that common sence and a level of sencible precautions are nessessary

sadly like your friend we all don't get immune to all diseases and I wish your friend a fast recovery,

there are cases where some people do, there are already scientific studies on a group of Africans who have antibodies which prevents them from getting HIV

If it were not for scientific advances it would be down to The Survival of the fitest, those who do not have the imunity die out leaving those who have, lucky for us science has made a difference keeping some of us alive when nature would have given up (I include myself on this list)

We can still get the common cold as the virus mutates but atleast you don't keep suffering from the same strain each time which could reduce your bodies abilities to recover

I'm going to disagree with you in the politest way possible of course regarding Smallpox

Edward Jenner discovered milkmaids who caught the cowpox virus did not catch smallpox

"The next step towards the eradication of smallpox occurred with the observation by English physician, Edward Jenner, that milkmaids who developed cowpox, a less serious disease, did not develop the deadly smallpox. In 1796, Jenner took the fluid from a cowpox pustule on a dairymaid's hand and inoculated an 8-year-old boy. Six weeks later, he exposed the boy to smallpox, and the boy did not develop any symptoms. Jenner coined the term "vaccine" from the word "vaca" which means "cow" in Latin. His work was initially criticized, but soon was rapidly accepted and adopted. By 1800 about 100,000 people had been vaccinated worldwide. "

I know the modern vacicine no longers uses the Cow pox strain