Most likely, for five million years, humanity carried Polio with it. Nobody ever suffered from Polio. Why? Because every human, low borne or king, was exposed every day to human waste. Then, Polio appeared in Sweden. Why Sweden? Because Sweden was the first country on Earth with universal flush toilets. But it took twenty years, a full generation, before the cleanliness bomb detonated. Twenty years is how long it takes to raise a generation of people who had never been exposed to Polio. Polio followed the advent of universal flush toilets around the globe; by twenty years.
Now, you can find amazingly effective antibacterial wipes, gels and soap virtually everywhere. I’ve seen dispensers at the entrance of grocery stores. I’ve seen them in auto parts stores. Companies put them in hallways for employees. I fear they are another cleanliness bomb waiting to go off. Why? They kill 98% of the bacteria on your hands. The remaining 2% is immune to the most powerful antibacterial agent known.
Our hands are like your front yard. Kill one type of grass and weeds now have an opening to flourish. What monster is this OCD cleanliness compulsion breeding?
A different problem is: why are there no new antibiotics? Look no farther than our own regulatory and legal environment. The high cost and risk of both mean that only treatments get investment dollars; not cures.
There was an article in the Times about some nitwit mother who protected her daughter from everything, never let her get dirty, couldn’t play outside, washed her hands with anti-bacterial soap all the time, basically treated her like a protected lab rat.
Well, turns out her daughter is allergic to EVERYTHING: dairy, wheat, peanuts, shellfish, everything, and the doctors figured out that because she had never been exposed to anything her immune system never learned how to fight anything...verifies the excellent point you are making.
Ed