Re: Worms infect more Americans than thought... [Tue Dec 25, 2007]

Here's another one.  (Only a portion of the article is pasted here.)

Even science doesn't agree on this.  Yet I'm convinced that we Americans are much too concerned with bugs and germs and in the process are creating super bugs - stuff that will eventually be immune to the Lysols of the world.

Yes, we have worms infestations in this country but you should have been around when half of our population lived on farms.  I'll bet you most anything that parasites were horrendously more prevalent then, than today.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-03-19-allergies-cover_x.htm

Here's the new wisdom: Early exposure to pets, peanuts and intestinal worms might actually be good for you, because they program the developing immune system to know the difference between real threats, such as germs, and Aunt Millie's cat.

Evidence to support this view has been mounting for more than a decade. But now, for the first time, researchers are beginning to test remedies based on these theories in patients. Other doctors are trying to make use of novel approaches to retrain the immune system once it's too late and allergies set in.