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?

  • tunetardis@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Last time I was at the family doctor, I mentioned that my usual body temperature when not feeling sick clocks in well below 37°C and whether that means 37 would represent a low-grade fever in my case?

    She replied that 37 is an average based on observations from like a century ago when it was common for the average person to be carrying around some minor infection, and so in 1st world countries where that’s no longer the case, temperatures have gone down.

    It may be, then, that in the developing world, people tend to be at least slightly sick from all the pathogens around them but think of it as just everyday life and don’t pay it any heed? But I honestly don’t know.

    • Saneless@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I wonder the same thing all the time. My normal is like 97, so 98.6 is “normal”

      When I’m at 100 it doesn’t seem as bad (people don’t see 100 as a big deal) it’s the same as someone else being almost 102, which no one would think is mild

    • Methylman@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      observations from like a century ago

      So it’s likely (imo) that differences in race, gender and location were unlikely to be top of mind, let alone factored into the average

      • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        There’s debate when looking at the old body temp data. The old data has higher body temps. Some say the measurements are inaccurate. Another idea is that body temps have been going down, with the hypothesis that we live in a cleaner world and yada yada yada effects from that.