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Scientists fear pandemic's 'hyper hygiene' could have long-term health impacts

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41–50 of 149 posts

Re: Scientists fear pandemic's 'hyper hygiene' could have long-term health impacts

#41

There's a difference between being exposed to dirt and being exposed to viral diseases, though. Playing outside in the leaves will likely trigger healthy immune responses. Contracting COVID-19 may lead to long term health issues.

> Contracting COVID-19 may lead to long term health issues.

Uh-huh. And what percentage of people who contract have "long term health issues"? This is just more scaremongering based on self-reporting and anecdotes.

Re: Scientists fear pandemic's 'hyper hygiene' could have long-term health impacts

#42
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

how do you supposed herd immunity develops without low level exposure to viruses and organisms (which is what's in the dirt)? it's quite likely we've prolonged the pandemic by excessively curtailing exposure, which in turn dampens in vivo immune response necessary for natural herd immunity in the population. the 1918 flu, which killed 10-20% of the infected, was worthy of that kind of avoidance response, not this vir…

It's frightening how much censorship there is around non-consensual views on covid. Sure there are a few nutters blaming 5g masts, but there are plenty of legitimate criticisms of the way it is currently being handled. The Great Barrington Declaration has numerous signatories from well respected scientists, however it is dismissed, without any debate and lumped alongside antivaxxers and conspiracy theorists for takin…

The great barrington declaration also doesn’t have a single scientific claim that is backed up with any research.

The top HN comment of any article with more than 10 comments on it will always almost have more content and less fluff than the great barrington declaration.

Re: Scientists fear pandemic's 'hyper hygiene' could have long-term health impacts

#43
post #9

It will probably work itself out in the long term though and people will return to nominal levels of risk tolerance. E.g. China has reopened wet markets even though we now know it is hugely dangerous to the world. Sigh

It's a misconception that all wet markets transmit disease; they are basically markets that sell fresh foods like vegetables. A portion, probably a minority, sell "exotic" animal meat, and even then "exotic" is a biased perspective.

I've always liked how when talking about Ebola in Africa people use the phrase "Bush Meat", yet when my family goes hunting it's "Wild Game". China should just rebrand these to Farmer's Markets.

Re: Scientists fear pandemic's 'hyper hygiene' could have long-term health impacts

#44

There's a difference between being exposed to dirt and being exposed to viral diseases, though. Playing outside in the leaves will likely trigger healthy immune responses. Contracting COVID-19 may lead to long term health issues.

> Contracting COVID-19 may lead to long term health issues. Uh-huh. And what percentage of people who contract have "long term health issues"? This is just more scaremongering based on self-reporting and anecdotes.

This comment is dangerous and problematic. Your ISP is hopefully monitoring this disinformation

Re: Scientists fear pandemic's 'hyper hygiene' could have long-term health impacts

#45
post #2

Does anyone have a link to the actual paper cited? There's nothing in the article indicating a title or link.

The Ottawa Citizen said the paper was published in "the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science in the U.S." and listed one of the authors as "Brett Finlay" https://www.pnas.org/content/118/6/e2010217118 It has a heading "PERSPECTIVE" -- is that like an op-ed for science? Title: The hygiene hypothesis, the COVID pandemic, and consequences for the human microbiome

> It has a heading "PERSPECTIVE" -- is that like an op-ed for science?

It depends on the publication, but may often have much more rigour than the short prose format typical in a traditional newspaper op-ed. For example it could be a multi-author piece with extensive references and figures, and is a 'perspective' in the sense that it presents an academic summary of some topic for non-specialists.

Re: Scientists fear pandemic's 'hyper hygiene' could have long-term health impacts

#46
post #40
post #12

Yet another news article that doesn't link the damn paper. "The hygiene hypothesis, the COVID pandemic, and consequences for the human microbiome" > This pandemic intersects with a decades-long decline in microbial diversity and ancestral microbes due to hygiene, antibiotics, and urban living (the hygiene hypothesis). High-risk groups succumbing to COVID-19 include those with preexisting conditions, such as diabetes…

It's interesting to me that urban living would be included in the hygiene hypothesis. Intuitively, I would expect all the extra contact and travel to increase exposure to microbes, compared to "everyone spends most of their time on their own farm".

Different kind of microbes. Human communicable diseases in cities, dirt microbes in farms.

Re: Scientists fear pandemic's 'hyper hygiene' could have long-term health impacts

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

how do you supposed herd immunity develops without low level exposure to viruses and organisms (which is what's in the dirt)? it's quite likely we've prolonged the pandemic by excessively curtailing exposure, which in turn dampens in vivo immune response necessary for natural herd immunity in the population. the 1918 flu, which killed 10-20% of the infected, was worthy of that kind of avoidance response, not this vir…

Have you heard of any coronavirus variants coming out of South Korea, China, or New Zealand? No. That’s because they don’t have uncontrolled spread there, which leads to mutations due to the virus’s exposure to heterogenous immunity in the population. So uncontrolled spread doesn’t necessarily shorten the duration of the pandemic. All of which is actually incidental to the point I was making, that the hygiene hypothe…

I think the idea is that not every virus is Covid or Ebola. If you oversanitize your way out of every common cold, then the more serious diseases hit harder.

Re: Scientists fear pandemic's 'hyper hygiene' could have long-term health impacts

#48

There's a difference between being exposed to dirt and being exposed to viral diseases, though. Playing outside in the leaves will likely trigger healthy immune responses. Contracting COVID-19 may lead to long term health issues.

I think the hypothesis is that they aren't exposed to as many pathogens in general (due to increased sanitation/attention to cleanliness), not that the negative effects will be due to no exposure to covid (which doesn't appear very serious for infants in any case).

Right, to which I say people should spend time outdoors, digging gardens, hiking, and absolutely continue to mask up near other people.

Re: Scientists fear pandemic's 'hyper hygiene' could have long-term health impacts

#49
post #35
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... that sell wild caught animals, and usually don’t have a domesticated counterpart.

Have you looked up the diseases domasticated animals can have? The next pandemic could be from them.

Some of us, at least in the UK, remember the BSE ("mad cow disease") mess. That could have turned out very much worse than it did (though it was plenty bad already).

Re: Scientists fear pandemic's 'hyper hygiene' could have long-term health impacts

#50
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can see it around me already. There will be most likely no changes to how we used to do stuff. I, for one, wouldn't mind screens in the shops and some protection for the cashiers. Its probably the biggest factor for spreading flu, since they are huge point of contact. But it won't happen. The moment we beat the covid, everyone will rush to strip and burn anything that is remotely related to covid.

"The moment we beat the covid..." I hope you're right, but I feel like that's overly optimistic.

With working vaccines its the matter of when not if. What makes you think otherwise?
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