DailyDirt: Ugh. Can We Stop Getting Sick Already?

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Fri, Sep 25th 2015 5:00pm — Michael Ho

The common cold is just annoying, and the annual flu season is even more so -- and can actually be deadly. The minor annoyances of allergies, headaches and stuffy noses seems like something we should be able to conquer. (Maybe if we just could all live in hermetically sealed bubbles until no one had a cold anymore?) If you're not looking forward to flu season (or kids sharing germs now that they're back in school), perhaps some of these links might lead to a remedy some day.

Farm dust might be triggering an immune response in kids that protects them from developing allergies and asthma. Children raised on farms have a significantly lower rate of having allergies or asthma compared to kids growing up in more urban environments, and scientists have seen that farm dust exposure to mice can prevent induced allergic reactions. So... when are parents going to start buying artisanal farm dust for their kids? (Some parents are already organizing farm-located daycares.) [url]
A brother and sister (but not their middle sibling) have a rare genetic mutation that makes them immune to many kinds of viral infections such as influenza, herpes, dengue fever, hepatitis C and HIV. Unfortunately, their mutation also seems to cause various developmental delays, fragile bones and an otherwise weakened immune system. However, since this mutation affects glycosylation, it doesn't prevent the common cold, either. But studying this disorder could lead to treatments, as well as other approaches for normal immune systems to avoid viral infections. [url]
Helminthic therapy uses worms to treat autoimmune diseases, and it sounds really gross. Some people are so fed up with their allergies that they'll try anything -- including letting a few parasitic worms into their body. It seems to work for some people anecdotally, but clinical trials so far have had mixed results that don't point to a clearly recommended treatment. Sorry, allergy sufferers. [url]

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Filed Under: allergies, asthma, flu, genetic mutation, germs, health, helminthic therapy, hygiene hypothesis, immune system, viral infections, worms

9 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 25 Sep 2015 @ 6:31pm

been around long enough...
to know that this guy is going to chime in with his theory of "ventilation" curing the common cold:
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110726/18174415269/dailydirt-cures-everything.shtml#c123

STO P. just STOP.

The cold & flu viruses mutate and can be transmitted regardless of how well you ventilate your home. Do you think you can cure ebola? Good luck with that.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Sep 2015 @ 6:51pm

I've always found the best way to avoid getting sick is to build up a super-immune system, and the best way to do this is to go to the doctor once a month. No appointment necessary: just hang out in the waiting room and lick all the sick people. To add a little extra bio-armor, go to a bunch of pharmacies and casually rub up against all the customers.
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- Anonymous Coward, 25 Sep 2015 @ 11:25pm
  
  Re:
  I forgot to mention that the healthcare industry (including insurance companies, Big Pharma, and Big Stethoscope) really doesn't want everyone to be impervious to disease. To stop my super-immunity system from becoming too popular, they use a very dirty trick: they send The Man to hassle anyone following my program.
  
  Sure, The Man will claim that licking and rubbing up against strangers in public is 'frowned upon', or 'antisocial behavior', or 'a crime', but that's just a cover. All they're doing is acting as enforcers for the people that get rich by 'treating' a chronic ailment with 'medicine'.
  
  (Tip: When going out to build your resistance be sure to wear loafers and snug pants, because if The Man shows up, he might send you to a place where they take your shoelaces and belt.)
  
  Gesundheit!
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Sep 2015 @ 6:54pm

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/000811/0140237.shtml#c13

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100830 /04304510822.shtml#c604

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110324/02181913605/fda-suddenly-bans-drug s-that-have-been-market-decades.shtml#c668
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liar, 26 Sep 2015 @ 7:14am

Helminthic therapy, and now for the hook!
Idea has been around for awhile, yes?
(from 2010)
http://www.radiolab.org/story/91691-sculptors-of-monumental-narrative/
"...Then Pat Walters introduces us to Jasper Lawrence, a modern-day entrepreneur whose passion for hookworms stems from lifelong battles with allergies and asthma."
http://www.radiolab.org/story/91951-an-update-on-hookworms/
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GEMont, 26 Sep 2015 @ 6:52pm

Just saying....
I stopped eating anything with sugar in it, and stopped using white sugar - sucrose - altogether (replaced with honey and maple syrup), and no longer eat any form of junk food, and once a week, I clean out my ears with a drop or two of peroxide (3% solution), or whenever I return from a crowded environment like shopping, and I have not had the flu or a cold in a little under 30 years.

Oh yeah, I've never had a flu vaccination.
(That one was for the Helmet :)

The common cold hangs out in your ears.
Perfect temperature.
Perfect moisture.
Connected to throat and nose.
It waits till your immune system is down, like right after a chocolate bar, or a coffee with three teaspoons of sucrose.

Modern cold remedies are not. They're just symptom masks and they help the virus survive longer in the body, so you will have more time to buy more cold remedies.

They all attack your natural defense mechanisms - fever, cough, runny nose - and these are literally the body's search and destroy mechanisms, that cook the virus, expel the virus and drown the virus.

But hey, I'm not a millionaire, so what do I know, right?

----
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- Sorident, 27 Sep 2015 @ 5:40am
  
  Re: Just saying....
  I still don't understand why people stop eating anything that says sugar on it but still eat other things with fructose in it that gets transformed into sucrose in your body anyway. So far, I haven't met a single person with an active social life (having a job where there's interaction with colleagues, using public transportation to go to work, going out in public places etc) not having a flu every once in a while. Oh well, I'm glad it worked out for you.
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  - GEMont, 28 Sep 2015 @ 12:44am
    
    Re: Re: Just saying....
    "...but still eat other things with fructose in it that gets transformed into sucrose in your body anyway."
    
    Let me get this straight.
    
    You are saying you believe that fructose; the sugar found in fruit, gets turned into sucrose - white, refined, cane sugar - inside your body, after you eat it?
    
    I assume you also think that glucose and lactose also get turned into white refined cane sugar as well, right.
    
    I'm not sure who told you that, but it might do you some good to find them and kick them where it hurts the most.
    
    That is pure bullshit.
    
    You're on the internet for gaudz ache.
    Learn some basic research practices.
    
    ---
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Robby AIM World (profile), 30 Apr 2016 @ 1:59am

Yes we can prevent
Actually there are some other ways to prevent from getting sick. A friend of mine showed me about iProtect that gives an airborne protection from flu, bacteria and viruses and I have been using that for a month now. It helps!
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