Immune: A Journey Into the Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive

by Philipp Dettmer

Hygiene is a great idea that really benefits the health of our species. This whole point is so important that it is worth repeating: The microorganisms that are causing infectious diseases are comparatively new to our biology. Our bodies and immune systems did not have hundreds of thousands of years to evolve alongside them. Surviving the measles does not make you tougher, it just makes your life bad for two weeks. And if your immune system is not in good shape it might also just kill you. Dangerous pathogens are, well, dangerous. Clean water has literally saved hundreds of millions of lives. Hygiene, from washing your hands regularly to making sure your food is properly stored, is incredibly important—as important as vaccines, if not more. Hygiene is also a critical line of defense that keeps us safe from contracting dangerous infections, for example in the case of global pandemics. Coughing into your elbows, washing your hands regularly and properly, and wearing masks buys us time for larger-scale interventions, like vaccines or medication. Hygiene reduces our need to prescribe antibiotics, which automatically combats antibiotic resistance. It protects the weaker members of society like small children and seniors, the immunocompromised, people going through chemotherapy or suffering from genetic defects.