Dirty dancing?

Like a latter day George Orwell, David Strachan has taught us dirty is good, clean is bad, and so the hygiene hypothesis was born. So off to the barn not just for a surreptitious leg over, but also for the delivery of the baby to minimise the risk of atopic disease. However geographical differences which just do not fit with received wisdom have the potential to challenge, or, as Oliver Cromwell might have said, ‘I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken’ (don't try this one on when appealing an editorial decision; we never are!). From Ecuador, far from the maddening lab and in a really challenging environment in which to do research comes just such another ‘doesn't fit’ paper to make us think again. Cooper et al (see page 232) studied nearly 9000 urban and rural children and were unable to show the expected higher prevalence of atopic disease in the urban population. Indeed some farming exposures were associated with increased wheeze and rhinitis! What does …