Is it true that poor personal hygiene may in fact be beneficial to good health?
Let us not get carried away. One needs exposure to antigen in order to build immune systems defences. There is a feeling (although not great scientific evidence of this) that our tendency for over cleaning etc may have something to do with the change in diseases such as asthma etc. This does not mean that people who do not wash will be healthier, but those who lived in completely sterile environments would have potentially less opportunity to be exposed to antigen. Life is about balance. Clearly washing our hands before preparing food is clearly more safe than not washing our hands. There are plenty of other reasons why people with poor personal hygeine may become ill. Not least they would get a lot of hassle from friends and colleagues for looking and smelling bad!!
