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Restricting Children's Play May Harm Them

Started by Tank, September 02, 2011, 10:45:49 AM

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Sandra Craft

Quote from: DeterminedJuliet on November 30, 2011, 11:51:38 PM
My husband is a bit guilty of this - he's an admitted germaphobe and whenever we bring wee man to the park he gets squeamish about letting him "get dirty". Intellectually he knows that it's good for him to go out and be a little monkey, but he's afraid he's going to get worms or contract some weird form of raccoon distemper or something.

We know things like this do happen sometimes, but what's the likelihood of it?  I know I've been told you should never let a cat sleep on your bed because you'll get worms but in nearly 40 years of sharing a bed with any number of cats, including formerly feral ones, I've never gotten worms.  Or fleas, for that matter.  I'm really curious to know the percentage on things like this happening.  As frequently as a bee sting, or as frequently as being hit by a meteor?  Of course, there's always the possibility that rarity of occurance isn't going to matter to a germaphobe. 
Sandy

  

"Life is short, and it is up to you to make it sweet."  Sarah Louise Delany

The Magic Pudding

Quote from: Tank on November 30, 2011, 11:16:24 AM
On a saturday me and some mates would pack a ruck sack with goodies and disappear off into the woods. One of us would make sure their watch as wound up and set right so we could get back in time for Dr Who  ;D

You were lucky. We lived for three months in a paper bag in a septic tank.

OldGit


DeterminedJuliet

Quote from: BooksCatsEtc on December 01, 2011, 12:23:36 AM
Quote from: DeterminedJuliet on November 30, 2011, 11:51:38 PM
My husband is a bit guilty of this - he's an admitted germaphobe and whenever we bring wee man to the park he gets squeamish about letting him "get dirty". Intellectually he knows that it's good for him to go out and be a little monkey, but he's afraid he's going to get worms or contract some weird form of raccoon distemper or something.

We know things like this do happen sometimes, but what's the likelihood of it?  I know I've been told you should never let a cat sleep on your bed because you'll get worms but in nearly 40 years of sharing a bed with any number of cats, including formerly feral ones, I've never gotten worms.  Or fleas, for that matter.  I'm really curious to know the percentage on things like this happening.  As frequently as a bee sting, or as frequently as being hit by a meteor?  Of course, there's always the possibility that rarity of occurance isn't going to matter to a germaphobe. 

I work at a vet clinic, so I have a general idea.

Apparently something like 20% of the general population of North America has antibodies for roundworm (higher in the southern parts of the U.S.). Which likely means that, at some point, 20% of the population have had roundworm. These are really the biggest culprits that you have to worry about when it comes to zoonotic diseases, depending on your area. And you can get roundworms from eating dirt outside and that kind of thing. Most people worry about getting tape worms, but you can't get tapeworms from your pets or from "outside" because tapeworms need an intermediary host for an adult to take up residence - a human could eat the tapeworm segments and never get infected.

But, despite how gross that is, on the whole I think you're still better off "getting dirty" than not.
"We've thought of life by analogy with a journey, with pilgrimage which had a serious purpose at the end, and the THING was to get to that end; success, or whatever it is, or maybe heaven after you're dead. But, we missed the point the whole way along; It was a musical thing and you were supposed to sing, or dance, while the music was being played.