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**Lillie_Steins** · 05-07-2012, 02:08 AM

Brahmanyam: What you say about immune system makes a lot of sense. My wife used to get sick going to my family farm here in Canada, but I never did. She hadn't built up immunities to whatever is in the well, whereas I had built them up. So the same is true of India. Locals get used to the water, whereas foreigners like me have no such luxury. Immunity is very individualized. I do know a couple of western friends who can go to India (or Mexico) and never get sick, some special coating of iron in their guts or something, but these people are in the tiny minority. Often NRIs who return after 30 odd years have also lost their childhood immunities.

So there is most likely some truth to the 'cleaner water will make us lose our immunities' statement. But medically, I'm not sure if said immunities are passed on to children at birth via bloodstream, or need to be built up over time from the gut. If the latter is the case then I see how infant mortality rates are high.

There is also the 'it's okay for me, then it's okay for you' syndrome going on here, which is untrue. I often encountered that. Even a very steady.."Trust me. I WILL get sick." didn't work. At one restaurant using banana leaves, tap water was used to wash the leaf, and our server served the dosa with his hands. Noticing that, I decided not to eat, but the staff put so much pressure on me, out of politeness I ate anyway. TRUST me, I paid for it for the next 4 days, mostly from a bed in a hotel.

05-07-2012, 02:08 AM	#4
Lillie_Steins Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 4,508 Senior Member	Brahmanyam: What you say about immune system makes a lot of sense. My wife used to get sick going to my family farm here in Canada, but I never did. She hadn't built up immunities to whatever is in the well, whereas I had built them up. So the same is true of India. Locals get used to the water, whereas foreigners like me have no such luxury. Immunity is very individualized. I do know a couple of western friends who can go to India (or Mexico) and never get sick, some special coating of iron in their guts or something, but these people are in the tiny minority. Often NRIs who return after 30 odd years have also lost their childhood immunities. So there is most likely some truth to the 'cleaner water will make us lose our immunities' statement. But medically, I'm not sure if said immunities are passed on to children at birth via bloodstream, or need to be built up over time from the gut. If the latter is the case then I see how infant mortality rates are high. There is also the 'it's okay for me, then it's okay for you' syndrome going on here, which is untrue. I often encountered that. Even a very steady.."Trust me. I WILL get sick." didn't work. At one restaurant using banana leaves, tap water was used to wash the leaf, and our server served the dosa with his hands. Noticing that, I decided not to eat, but the staff put so much pressure on me, out of politeness I ate anyway. TRUST me, I paid for it for the next 4 days, mostly from a bed in a hotel.
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