this post was submitted on 22 Jan 2024
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[–] On@kbin.social 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

If this also affects other bacteria and germs, wouldn't that mean people would not build up immunity to anything around them. It's reasonable for places like airports, hotels, and public spaces and subways but not "everywhere"

[–] InputZero@lemmy.ml 3 points 9 months ago

Possibly but it also might cause it to go into overdrive. The immune systems ultimate goal is to find things that are not you that are inside of you and remove them. An immune system with no interaction with the outside environment could be vulnerable to very mild infections or it could start to recognize parts of itself as foreign and attack itself, otherwise known as autoimmune disease. It's a complicated system that we don't fully understand, although we have a pretty good understanding.