Chickens can compromise an immune system?

[CritterHill]

ole-crone, I am in complete agreement. I was always a staunch supporter of "let them eat dirt, it will strengthen their immune system" philosophy of parenting.

Then my 4 year old (she was 3 at the time) was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Turns out she has a genetic pre-disposition toward it (weird since no one else in our entire extended family has it). Yes, it's part genetic BUT they say that there is an environmental part that they don't know what it is, but it probably has to do with getting sick a lot when they are little. Triggers the immune system to go crazy and attack the joints of the body.

So, we put her on these horrible, wonderful drugs where you read the side effects and can't believe you are going to inject that into your baby on a routine basis. But when you see how she goes from pulling herself along the ground by her arms because her knees are in too much pain to walk on to running and jumping like a wild woman. And you know you did the right thing.

ChickenAnnie - I saw that study as well. Exposure to germs when young keeps the allergies away.

Unfortunately, we just got an odd genetic hand where it didn't work that way for us.

 

[claud]

Quote:
Yes, I've seen this study only they don't know WHY farm children are less likely to have allergies(it is assumed by some that it is because of more exposures).
There was also a study that suggested having more than one pet in your house decreased the chances of the children growing up there to have animal allergies.

 

[Tuffoldhen]

I've had a a compromised immune system all my life and never had a problem raising chickens.......I'm old as dirt

 

[Rte.66_chicks]

From a number of reports that I have read, having pets and letting kids play in the dirt helps build a stronger immune system. Keeping everything super-sanitary keeps the immune system from building resistance to much of anything, and any bacteria, viruses, and fungi that survive the super-sanitizing efforts just create "super-bugs".

Reasonable caution is always called for, though, and extreme caution when the immune system is compromised.

 

[tnkinhunting]

I thought that perhaps there was something "new" out there that I had not heard about.
I have always had chickens and always tried to be sanitary, wash hands, etc, bleach everything, and don't kiss the chickens.....

Thanks for all your input. I will continue playing with the chickie's!

 

[silkiechicken]

Yep, exposure in small amounts is key. One reason we don't get sicker normally is because every mm of our skin is crawling with bacteria. This beneficial bacteria is strong and sucks up all the nutrients on us to live so fewer bad bacteria are there to make us sick....

I keep telling myself, some day I will end up with E coli or salmonella... but hasn't happened yet... and I am a very bad example of hand washing and not sharing food with the animals.... and eating things off my floor when I know I've had chickens inside walking on it. I'm convinced the biggest risk to our health is other humans. LOL

 

[Tuffoldhen]

That's funny Silkie...I learned along time ago that human contact was more likely to kill me off than my chickens...lol.......