searcher

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121003082734.htm
This article that I found talks about how the increase in allergies is not from being too clean, basically over doing hygiene, but from losing touch with "old friends." The idea this article brings up of "old friends" is the loss of microbes our immune systems evolved with. This article also points out to say that microbial exposure is important and that it is not saying other wise. This is the last thing we discussed in class on Monday the 16th. In the article this hypothesis disproves the hygiene hypothesis.The hypothesis goes to say that challenges of urban living are what connect inflammatory disease. I think this hypothesis seems reasonable.  Changing from a rural environment to an urban one would definitely have some effect on people. Either a negative or positive effect is likely to rise or both. Our diet has also changed quite a bit and the population has increased, which I guess also explains why our diets have changed so much. I was a little confused though, we discussed in class how an inbalance in Th1 and Th2 where the Th1 skew might lead to allergies, asthma, and eczema. This was a very helpful article to read, it really explained everything well, I just feel in needed to have a little bit more to it.