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    Mayo Clinic Minute: Children and the cleanliness conundrum

children smiling, climbing on the playground

It's impossible to keep children from ever getting sick, but parents always have looked for ways to minimize their kids' exposure to infections. It's often a challenge, since young children tend to touch everything and put most things in their mouths.

But scientists and healthcare providers are starting to think that may not be a bad thing.

In this Mayo Clinic Minute, Dr. Nipunie Rajapakse, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at Mayo Clinic, explains why being too clean could be detrimental to the development of children's immune systems and why hygiene hypothesis might be the reason the number of kids with allergies continues to rise. Ian Roth reports.

Watch: The Mayo Clinic Minute

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video pkg (0:59) is in the downloads. Read the script.

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