A Sick Theory

I was riding on the Metro in London today, watching a kid across from me as he dug for gold. That is, he was picking his nose and he was in up to his wrist. I tried not to stare, but as I was about to look away, the kids withdrew his finger and stuck it in his mouth.

After the initial shock and repulsion, all I could imagine was the enormous about of bacteria the kid just ingested. And at that moment, a light bulb appeared over my head as a sick theory materialized.

When someone receives an inoculation, a miniscule amount of a disease is introduced in one’s systems in order for the body to build up a natural immunity. Now if this works for injections into the blood system, why couldn’t it work for ingested bacteria? After all, clean freaks that shelter themselves from any sort of dirt and bacteria generally end up less healthy due to the fact that their immune system has been deprived from building itself up. So by introducing bacteria in small [booger] doses, theoretically one’s immune system would become hardier as one’s body works to fight against the invading bacteria.

Now I’m not sure if this theory would actually work. I’m unclear about how much of the bacteria would make it past the natural defenses of the digestive system, given the stomach’s powerful acids. However, if anyone wants to run some scientific experimentation on this theory, feel free to notify me with the results.