”Children are less likely to develop allergic diseases such as asthma if they are exposed to a wide range of microorganisms in their growing environment.” The findings were recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine by researchers from the University Children’s Hospital in Munich. The study evaluated the incidence of asthma and allergic diseases and the diversity of microorganisms in the living environment among children living on farms, and included two sampling studies, one of which analyzed screening DNA for bacteria in mattress dust and another study that used traditional culture techniques to assess the bacterial and fungal species in children’s room dust samples. The results found that children living on farms had lower rates of asthma and allergic disease compared to children living in the general environment, and that the more microbial species they were exposed to, the lower the risk of asthma, and that the incidence was similarly lower if the environment had fungi such as Aspergillus, or bacteria such as Listeria, Bacillus, and Corynebacterium. Therefore, it may not be a good thing for children to grow up in an environment that is too clean.