Hygiene Theory Washed Up

Allergic Response to Propaganda

“An unexplained increase in the prevalence of allergic disease has occurred in the developed world in the past few decades. During the same period, there has been an increase in mass immunization, leading to the hypothesis that certain vaccines may increase the risk of allergic disease. There are 2 proposed mechanisms by which immunization may influence the development of allergic disease. The first is that vaccination could have a direct impact on the immune system, and there is evidence that pertussis vaccine enhances humans’ response to histamine2 and leads to raised immunoglobulin E levels.

“It has been suggested that exposure to infection in childhood reduces a child’s risk of developing allergic disease; this is commonly known as the hygiene hypothesis. Our results in an observational cohort study demonstrated a positive association between vaccination and allergic disease”

The modern emergence of the Hygiene Theory was seeded by a 1989 BMJ study of 17,000 children born in the UK in one week of 1958. Hay fever and eczema were highly correlated with earlier birth order than younger children. David Strachan, epidemiologist hypothesized that this was from more unhygienic contact with older siblings, from natal to age 7. They keep much better records in Britain with their National Health Service’s public paid medical system, for one tenth the costs of the sprawling, publicly, privately bought, and not paid for medical systems of the U.S.

Smaller family sizes, improvements in housing, and higher standards of cleanliness caused the miraculous elimination of most infectious childhood disease deaths by the early 20th century, now all that was being blamed for the spiraling rates of allergies, while vaccines and antibiotics took credit for the cure.

Authorities in the allergic immune system field rejected this adamantly, since they theorized that allergies, especially asthma was caused by early infections, especially “bad ones.” Discovering the IgE antibody driving most allergic responses undercut this opposition. Now it seemed plausible that a lack of early exposure to germs was the underlying problem, leaving the immune system untrained and hyper responsive in later life.

The Hygiene Theory of allergy development gained a big boost in the 1990’s with several European studies comparing immune health of “traditional” Bavarian farm children, Waldorf school kids who spent weekends on a biodynamic farm and even Venezuelan slum kids with age matched urban and suburban children.*

Farm and Favela children all had fewer respiratory, nasal and ear infections with much lower rates of asthma than kids who hadn’t rolled in the hay barn or infested with parasites. Maybe it wasn’t their diverse microflora from hay dust, breast-feeding, raw milk, or intestinal infections cited as possible reasons why they had far less chronic inflammation of their immune system than urban children who had never been exposed to barn dust. None were inoculated during infancy, either from philosophy or poverty.

Which aspects of barn dust are protective became their quest, when rural traditional, Swiss, German and Austrian farm children had less hay fever, asthma, and eczema. Mice raised in labs and barns were tested and also showed the same “farmhouse effect”, protective against allergies. An American study found children raised with dogs had fewer allergies, although more than barn dust kids. Even pet and pest allergens from cockroach, mice and cats lowered asthma rates in others. Mystery was “which bacteria” exposure was the silver bullet.

Millions of parents got a dog for the kid, or took them on weekend barn tours, to no avail as rates continued to climb. I overheard a young father letting his kid play in greasy dirt near a gas station because it was “good for his immune system.” There’s never been a study on that exposure, but this is how medical information translates through the general public.

Now, global rates and national rates are rising even among germ, dust and “pollen protected” farmers and rural children, which has “directly challenged this theory”, MacPhail’s allergy specialists informed her. The University of Nebraska Dr. Jill Poole, Division of Allergy and Immunology, found that 30 percent of Midwestern farmers had allergic diseases from agricultural dust, pesticides and moldy grain from flooding- Farmer’s Lung, so nature disrupted is clearly not beneficial.

Besides, countries with larger family size, more rural residents, living in poverty suffer from rising rates of allergies. Half of urban Ugandans have them, with rural areas catching up. Over the counter antihistamines, steroids and antibiotics are used by most of these sufferers. Dr. Bruce Kirenga, Ugandan allergy expert, blames air pollution, not urban lifestyles.

India has medical university clinics specializing in asthma and allergies following their “massive rise” from the late 1960’s. Uganda and China too. Only the remotest tribes beyond the Yanomami and the Amish are immune. Same reason as Waldorf kids. Unvaxxed.

Thomas Platt-Mills, director of Allergy and Clinical Immunology at University of Virginia, objects to hygiene theory, because most of the cleanliness of our living environment in industrialized countries was “already complete by the 1920’s”, concomitant with drastic decreases in infectious disease deaths. The dramatic rise in of asthma and allergic rhinitis began to climb from the 1950’s through the 80’s, when it became a hockey stick, continuing to increase today.

He argues for “an increase in sensitization to indoor allergens and the loss of a lung-specfic protective effect of regular deep inspiration.” Household cleaning products used more frequently, children more likely to develop wheeze and asthma. Spending 90% of their time indoors, increases exposure to antigens, but outdoor recreation confers more protection than indoor living, due to new contaminants and tighter sealing of homes and commercial buildings. Add Deep Breathing and spiritual inspiration from nature to the Hygiene Theory. Sort of like the Terrain Theory laid over Biological Materialism.

Never, acknowledge the elephant crapping boulders in the corner. Two New Zealand comparative studies found that unvaccinated children had far less tonsillitis, asthma, allergic rashes, SIDS, ear infections and hyperactivity. Almost one fourth of vaccinated children had asthma while 30 percent suffered from allergies, compared to none in the unvaccinated group. Tonsillitis, ear infections, sleep apnea, hyperactivity and epilepsy were up to ten times more common among vaccinated children.

“This [New Zealand] study has confirmed the associations of family history and lower socio-economic status with current asthma in 7-9 year old children. The role of vaccinations requires further research.” (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11297301/ accessed 6/27/19, no longer working)

Vaccinated German children had higher rates of asthma, allergies, dyslexia, hyperactivity, anxiety, depression, bed wetting, diabetes, Celiac disease and gluten sensitivity, hay fever, warts, migraines, GERD, seizures, ear infections, thyroid disease, eczema and dermatitis than unvaccinated children in a 2011 study by Dr. Andreas Bachair.

The only American comparison of vaccinated, partially vaccinated and unvaccinated children’s health was from home schooled children, done in cooperation with the National Home Education Research Institute and home schooling associations in four states. In 2017, this group of privately funded researchers published a paper, Pilot comparative study on the health of vaccinated and unvaccinated 6- to 12-year-old U.S. children.

The vaccinated were less likely than the unvaccinated to have been diagnosed with chickenpox and pertussis, targeted by mandatory vaccinations, but more likely to have been diagnosed with pneumonia, otitis media, and allergies. The interaction of preterm birth and vaccination was associated with a 660% increase of Neurological Developmental Disorders.

The vaccinated were also more likely to have used antibiotics, allergy and fever medications; visited a doctor for a health issue in the previous year, and/or been hospitalized. While vaccinated children were less likely to contract chicken pox and pertussis, they weren’t better protected against measles, mumps, influenza, rotavirus, hepatitis and meningitis, also vaccinated against. They were almost six times more likely to have pneumonia.

Ear infections, frequently resulting from sinus symptoms of allergies, are the leading cause of pediatric visits, so vaccines create a revolving door with antibiotics sprinkled vigorously on the outswing. Vaccinated kids were seven times more likely to have surgery to implant plastic ear drainage tubes, a primary cause of $3 billion spent on treating childhood ear infections each year. They had 30 times higher rates of “hay fever” and were 20 times more likely to be prescribed allergy medicine. (Journal of Translational Science 3/27/2018)

No “public health” agencies have funded or conducted a published a comparison of the long-term health outcomes for infants and children given the recommended CDC immunization schedule and a similar cohort of unvaccinatedchildren. That would require a larger control group for statistical reliability, and their entire focus is on reducing unvaccinated children to nil. These medical officials rely on non science-based research to create public health policy and claim it’s based on science. American parents, are coerced and persuaded to subject their children to untested injections, that will more likely than not injure them in some long term fashion, with allergies being the canary in the coal mine.

The CDC admitted in 2014 and 2018 that the U.S. has never done a direct comparison of the health of vaccinated vs. unvaccinated children. Even “double blind” safety trials for new inoculations used either the not yet approved injection or one or more previously licensed vaccines as the “placebo.”

“The real adverse event rate for a vaccine can only be determined by comparing subjects receiving the vaccine with those receiving an inert placebo. Yet, this study design, required for every drug, is never required before or after licensing a vaccine.” (page not found now, accessed 6/27/19)

The Truth is none of MacPhail’s world reknowned allergy specialists had read or retained this “anti-vaxx” information. Like Sirens, more likely to steer her onto foggy rocks of possible causes, away from definite harbors.

*The Dirt Cure: Growing Healthy Kids with Food Straight from Soil, Atria Books, 2016, Maya Shetreat-Klein MD