There have been reports of YouTubers I watch getting sick after eating food in third world countries. However, these countries are also home to a large number of people who do not get sick from eating the same food. I think this suggests that the locals may have developed stronger immune systems. What do you think?
Not necessarily, it is likely that a tourist is just not used to these specific pathogens. While the people living there are used to them. So their immune system isn’t better per se just more adapted to the environment.
There was an episode of vsauce or veritasium or cgpgrey several years ago that kind of talked about this a little bit. Basically, inside and outside of us, alongside covering all of our things and everything we touch and are around and other people, are all part of an extended network of poop particles and bacteria.
You get sick when new things get past your exterior & interior poop network of bacterial defenses. Same for anyone, anywhere. It’s all just how much, how fast, and how far and how new, the new bacteria and viruses get. If it gets too far, too fast, we might die.
But, people are disgusting and COVERED IN POOP BACTERIA AND VIRUSES and so we’re all fairly familiar with everything, and nothing is too different.
COVID-19, for example, was very different and spread in large amounts very quickly, I believe it’s why it’s called a “novel” virus. It was different enough that it just waltzed past all our defenses and killed millions of people. And then, it mutated enough, and quickly enough, that when it came back to us with the new form, our immune systems were like “damn this one virus came in here and caused a ton of damage, but for some reason we don’t know exactly what it looks like. Are you that virus or it’s relative?” And the mutation was like, “uhhh, no?” And the security guard/immune system was all, “okay, come on through.” And it would get us sick again.
Biology is weird and epidemiology is incredibly difficult when half the population is fucking homeschooled and thinks horse dewormer helps this type of thing or that it’s fake or something.
I live in a third world country. What you don’t see in those YouTube videos is how common it is for the locals to contracts sanitary-related diseases such as typhoid fever, hepatitis A, ascaris worms, diarrhea, etc. A large proportion of people I know (including myself) have contacted typhoid fever at some point in their live. Those street food resistance is earned by getting sick a lot when they’re young.
they’re exposed to more bacteria growing up - it stresses their immune systems, promoting immunity. there was a study done years ago comparing the immune systems of children raised on farms (around livestock) and children raised in the city, and there was a distinct difference between the two.
The survivors might.
