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Kids, colds and viral incubation...

DrEntropy

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Since Christmas I have been sneezing, coughing and felt like a six-year-old snotty-nosed kid!!

Finally no longer glommin' down antihistamine caps like M&M's!

Advice: Do NOT subject yourself to exposure to relatives with children.

Just sayin'.
 

Mickey Richaud

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Janet stayed with the grandkids for a couple weeks and paid the price - grandson #1 was down with the flu. I was there over Christmas and caught a bit of it as well. Hers was full-blown flu; mine flu-like, but no temperature. Still, not fun...
 

Popeye

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Agree. My kids bring home all sorts of snot-noses. I just figure it is boosting my immune system! I just wish it were more like immunization shots - enough cooties to build the system, not enough to actually make me sick!

I also eat some mud every now and then... "Babies Know: A Little Dirt Is Good for You" https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/health/27brod.html
 
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DrEntropy

DrEntropy

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From that article:

"Dr. Weinstock goes even further. “Children should be allowed to go barefoot in the dirt, play in the dirt, and not have to wash their hands when they come in to eat,” he said. He and Dr. Elliott pointed out that children who grow up on farms and are frequently exposed to worms and other organisms from farm animals are much less likely to develop allergies and autoimmune diseases.

Also helpful, he said, is to “let kids have two dogs and a cat,” which will expose them to intestinal worms that can promote a healthy immune system."


Our mum would say we are expected to consume a bushel basket of dirt in our lifetime. She gave us a head start: "Go play in the dirt!"
 

Mickey Richaud

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Ongoing "discussion" in our household. SWMBO is a retired RN; worked in dialysis, so had to wash her hands and got more than her share of inoculation indoctrination over her lifetime. Me? Definitely of the "play in the dirt" school. Don't think I've ever had the flu, but do catch a couple of nasty colds each year. I think I've had maybe two flu shots in my lifetime. Did have serious asthma as a kid, and in the hospital once with pneumonia when I was five. Overall, lucky, I guess...
 
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DrEntropy

DrEntropy

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Hand washing was part and parcel of our upbringing, most of the relatives were clinicians of some sort. Went through the usual childhood diseases of the time; mumps, measles, the occasional cold. Caught a flu bug around Christmas a decade ago, that was no fun and had me miss the usual Christmas festivities.

Now I'm waiting for the onset of shingles or somesuch residual malady as a result of the childhood stuff.

But so far, so good. :smirk:
 

JPSmit

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My wife is a Christian educator and my siblings are either teachers or married to teachers - whenever any went to a new school/church the first year was always spent getting used to the "local germs." - never fun but always healthier in the long run.

Interestingly was talking to a guy at church last week - their 7 year old has a peanut allergy - they have kept their 5 year old away from peanut products all her life - now the doctors are saying they may have increased the chance of the daughter being alergic. This shift in just 5 years.

Interestingly, his last comment was "but we have banked each child's stem cell blood" so that is our last solution - yeah another thing invented since our babaies were babies - amazing.
 

waltesefalcon

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The sickest I have ever been was my first year teaching, haven't sick since though.
 
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I have read a few articles that state medicine is coming to the conclusion that our obsession with cleanliness, anti bacterial products and so on may in fact be a partial reason for so many allergies and easily caught colds/flus later in life as the immune systems of the young don't seem to prime themselves as well. I'm not in medicine so can't say how true that is, but I grew up a country kid playing outside, camping in the woods and so on and now in my 60s might catch a cold once a year. Ohio is one of those states showing greater than average flu for this year but despite not taking any particular precautions I have yet to catch anything.
 

elrey

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I got it sore throat first then the nose and miserable then the coughing etc and I had to stay ahead of the roofers doing tear out so they could finish before the RAINS and I slogged thru and the church is now dry and the rots been replaced with sound but everyone got sick and we got done and I paid my rent and like the rest of you they were gonna get it anyway so I don't feel bad anymore AND it took a few weeks to go away even though I eat a lot of dirt regularly. :thirsty:
 
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elrey

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In "Guns, Germs and Steel" the author claims that the conquistadores overcame the Mayan civilization due in large part to the Europeans having slept in close quarters with their own animals breeding viruses and gaining immunity for centuries. As to who ate more dirt?
 
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DavidApp

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My wife teaches kindergarten and buys Clorox wipes in bulk and sprays down the tables with Clorox spray every day. Would spray the kids if she could get away with it.

Generally gets one or two colds a year.

David
 

JPSmit

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In "Guns, Germs and Steel" the author claims that the conquistadores overcame the Mayan civilization due in large part to the Europeans having slept in close quarters with their own animals breeding viruses and gaining immunity for centuries. As to who ate more dirt?

My kids assure me that the real reason time travel is not feasible is because of the germs travellers would encounter.
 

Popeye

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I am always pointing out to my Daughters that the Anti Bacterial soap that kills 99.9% of germs means you are breeding from the strongest 0.1%. I get the eye roll.

On the self inoculation subject. https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/05/13/nose-picking.aspx

David

Thanks - I just forwarded that article to my wife, as we are debating this topic with our daughter. (She is right, as always, let me make that clear for everyone, lest she is reading the forum!) I support the notion that kids just eat boogers, and some day the "popular girl" will tease our daughter, after which she will never eat another one. My wife wants it to stop now. Again, she is right, but that article at least gives me some credibility!
 

DavidApp

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You could also pass on the old threat we had used on us as kids.

"The wind will change and you will be stuck like that" That was only used for the picking part.

David
 

elrey

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Growing up in San Francisco, I was told if the wind changed when you were making a grotesque face it would remain that way... Hence few family pictures.:uncomfortableness:
 
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