A Bad Rap for Soap?

Germs May be Good for Kids

By Laurie Dove

Wipe. Scrub. Soap. Wash.

This is the mantra of countless parents who spend hours making sure their toddlers have clean hands, a shiny face and freshly washed toys.

If a pacifier drops, these germ-conscious parents wash it off. If a toy is shared with another child, they scrub it clean. These parents refuse to give in to the onslaught of germs, invading by sneak attack through seemingly inane sources: a shopping cart handle, a waiting room magazine or a trip to the park.

But for the vigilant, there is some potentially confusing news afoot. Germs, it seems, may be good for children. And what's more, being too clean could be more harmful than parents ever imagined.

An increasing number of medical researchers now suspect that being too clean can have some deleterious effects on toddlers, causing them to become more susceptible to serious illnesses later in life, when these illnesses can be more difficult for the body to defend itself against, says Dr. Lester Mitscher, professor of medicinal chemistry at the University of Kansas. What's more, say researchers, being an overly clean child can lead to childhood diseases, such as asthma.

Asthma -- the most common chronic childhood disease -- is increasing each year in the United States without fail, according to the New England Journal of Medicine. The journal also reports that industrialized countries have a higher rate of asthma than do poor and medically underprivileged countries. A search of similar medical journals reveals that statistics such as these have prompted researchers to study everything from exposure to dust mites and cockroaches to eating habits and diet, in an attempt to determine the origins of these curious findings.

Recent research published in the New England Journal of Medicine concluded that the cause of asthma may be too much cleanliness. The more sterile the early environment for infants 6 months and younger, the more problems with asthma they seem to have later in life.

The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, found that young children with older siblings and those who attend day care are at increased risk for infections, which in turn may protect against the development of allergic diseases, including asthma.

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