"S.B. Feldman" wrote:

> A PERFECTLY STERILE WORLD FOR CHILDREN MAY CAUSE SUBSEQUENT BOWEL
> DISEASE

Funny you should bring this up...

Yesterday I attended a seminar at a local hospital, sponsored by the
Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America (I have Crohn's).

One of the docs, in his slide presentation, had a slide showing a map
of the world with regions shaded to illustrate the geographic
incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).  The regions having a
high prevalence of IBD include North America and Western and Northern
Europe.  The only such region in Africa was South Africa; the only
such region in Asia/Pacific was Australia/NZ.  Cental/South America,
the rest of Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia all have low prevalence.

The doc commented that the areas with the highest incidence of IBD are
the most developed (I think he used the word "civilized"); while those
with the lowest incidence are the least developed/"civilized".  Then
he said, "Another way to look at it is that the areas with the lowest
incidence are the areas with the highest risk of 'travelers'
diarrhea.  He was sort of scratching his head at the apparent irony of
that fact.

I whispered to my friend sitting next to me, "That makes perfect
sense!  The people in the "undeveloped" countries are exposed
throughout their lives to the bugs to which people from the "sterile
world" have no resistance!

Dirt is Good!  :-)

--
Deanna

PS - Just before the sessions began, I met an African-American man who
told me that IBD is on the increase among Black African-Americans.
Yet in Africa itself (except South Africa) it is virtually unknown!