Overly clean homes linked leukemia - did you know this?

[inbetweenmass]

I knew being overly clean wasn't great, but I didn't know it could contribute to cancer.

According to this article, children who get leukemia have a gene that predisposes them to it, but they also need to have an "unprimed" immune system...

“For an immune system to work properly, it needs to be confronted by an infection in the first year of life,” says Greaves. Without that confrontation with an infection, the system is left unprimed and will not work properly.”

And this issue is becoming an increasingly worrying problem. Parents, for laudable reasons, are raising children in homes where antiseptic wipes, antibacterial soaps and disinfected floorwashes are the norm. Dirt is banished for the good of the household.

In addition, there is less breast feeding of infants and a tendency for them to have fewer social contacts with other children. Both trends reduce babies’ contact with germs. This has benefits – but also comes with side effects. Because young children are not being exposed to bugs and infections as they once were, their immune systems are not being properly primed.

The good news though, is that the scientist who discovered it thinks he can develop a preventative medicine.

Even children with overly clean homes are exposed to germs out and about at play groups public transport etc. No one is raised in a sterile box.
I'm not sure how true this is.

You are noting what you have read, so this really isn't a go at you op, but I do hate these articles which place an element of blame on the parents. Any parent who has had a poorly child carries a huge amount of guilt and I imagine some parents will read this as confirmation of that guilt.

I have heard this before. I don't really understand the bit about lower breastfeeding rates leading to less germ exposure. How does breastfeeding expose you to lots of germs? And do people really have less social contacts? Lots of under 1s are in nursery or visit playgroups etc. Maybe people do keep children at home more to prevent illness though.

I think this is a gross oversimplification of the research that has actually gone on; otherwise why would it need a ‘cocktail’ of bacteria for proper prevention? Letting your child eat some dirt once in a while is clearly not going to prevent leukeimia. It’s one part of a complex immune system response, not the fact that people give their surfaces an occasional wipe with Dettol.

As PP said, the only thing this article is going to do is add more guilt into already guild-ridden parents of poorly children. There really should be rules about how studies like this are reported.

My daughter had leukaemia as a toddler and this certainly didn't apply to us.

She is the youngest of 3 and her older siblings brought home plenty of germs and she had quite a few infections in her first year.

I've never been houseproud either and just used the normal cleaning products that were available then - no antibac wipes etc in those days.

And she was breastfed until she was over six months old.

I treat children with cancer and recognise how difficult anything that suggests an environmental factor can be exquisitely hard to read

But Mel greaves is the godfather of ALL research in the UK, not some jumped up nobody. He was involved in the identical twins cases who were published about 10y ago and absolutely did show a role for the environment after the initial genetic hit. The microbiome is the next logical step and of great interest to others considering the exploding numbers of children with allergies, asthma and other atopic conditions.

He really shouldn’t be dismissed outright, but I absolutely understand that reading such things will be hard for a family who have experienced ALLfirst hand.

It's rubbish. I've never been a clean freak and DS2 got leukaemia. It's simply luck of the draw.

I hate to think vulnerable parents who lost children to this dreadful disease would possibly blame themselves after reading this bollocks.

My brother had leukaemia 45 years ago. My parents definitely weren't clean freaks.

My gran passed away 8 yrs ago aged 98. She lived with leukaemia for 15 years.

So i think that theory is bollocks. Having seen how she was brought up.

How is it bollocks just because it didn't apply to you?

There are many theories like this.

I read research somewhere that C-section babies miss out immune system development by not being covered in the biofilm of germs that comes from passing through a vagina.

Dad lived in the arse end of glasgow (I’m sure the house was clean but it was in the 1920s) so I’m not sure how much cleanliness has to do with it. I grew up in a very very clean house.

If it is the case, DS has no chance of getting it.

There is a school of thought that humans are less exposed to microbes these days and this impacts on our health.
factory farming; pesticides on fruit and veg and formula plus anti bac cleaning products etc.....these are all modern inventions and we don’t really know the impact.

How is it bollocks just because it didn't apply to you?

This. These studies are on a population level.

It’s like saying smoking doesn’t cause cancer because granny smoked 40 a day until she was 90 and was fine.

Generally, people who smoke are more likely to get cancer than those who don’t.

Generally, children with overly clean homes are more likely to get leukaemia.

Doesn’t mean they will, same as living in filth doesn’t mean they won’t.

It’s a statistical analysis of population, not an individual.

How is it bollocks just because it didn't apply to you?

I'm wondering that too. It's like saying the link between lung cancer and smoking is rubbish because my nan got lung cancer despite never smoking a cigarette in her life.

I really wish people would read the article before commenting.

Having read the review paper that the newspaper article is based on I think it's a very good summary. I don't think it would be a good thing for research results to be censored in some way in case they upset people.

I have known a few people with leukaemia- the childhood one really sucks but comes with a better prognosis whilst the adult one - I have my own suspicions about how it may arise purely based on the types of work people I know who have had it. But it’s just my guess from who I know.

How do they know that it is lack of germs that is linked to cancer and not the chemicals in cleaning fluids which are typically used?

I read this article as a family I know are going through this & was suprised the gene was so common. I seem to be reading more & more about the importance of gut bacteria. I’ve also read about the CS & immune system before, I was delivered this way as was one of my children.

If this were true then China and India wouldn’t have the fastest growing child Cancer rates in the world.