I wrote a rather facetious posting at my personal blog yesterday, about exposing children to germs when young, but according to commenter 6000, it’s a more serious subject than I realised:

As a scientist (although not speaking for the whole profession, I’m sure) I think we can safely say that whether it’s the underclasses, dogs or indeed the underclasses’ dogs - mixing with “germs” is a good thing - at least in the long term.

But apparently it now goes even further than just allergies - kids who attend playgroups are less likely to get leukaemia. It’s basically the same theory, but without the hay fever.

Incidentally, Black Death’s causal agent Yersinia pestis ...

I mentioned the Black Death.

... is really just E.coli with teeth. That said, it’s not one of the germs I would choose to expose my child to in order to avoid him sniffing each May. Nor one I would expect him to encounter at his playgroup.

6000 links to this recent BBC story:

Children who attend daycare or playgroups cut their risk of the most common type of childhood leukaemia by around 30%, a study estimates.

Researchers reviewed 14 studies involving nearly 20,000 children, of which 6,000 developed acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).

It is thought early infections may help the body fight off the disease.

So this story is actually good news.