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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Expert: Hygiene Can Make Spring Allergies Worse

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Tuesday, April 5, 2016   

DES MOINES, Iowa - All the runny noses and itchy eyes tell us it's allergy season in Iowa.

From April to June, grass pollen causes problems for many; then come fall, it will be ragweed and other pollen-shedding plants that cause misery.

If it seems like more people have allergies than ever, that is indeed the case.

Dr. Bill Miller is an author and blogger of "The Microcosm Within;" he studies the causes of allergies.

He says one problem is, many Americans are too clean; researchers call it the "Hygiene Hypothesis."

Miller says we've upset the balance of internal germs in our bodies by protecting ourselves more than our ancestors did.

"They had the cows and the goats, and all the pigs and everything," he says. "The family unit lived right on top of the farm animals. Kids used to roll in the dirt. Kids spent almost all their day outside. Now, in our modern society, we live indoors."

The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology cites research that suggests early antibiotic use changes the bacterial flora, which affects the development of allergic diseases like asthma.

Other studies suggest we may be using too many products like acetaminophen to treat children.

Miller says people need to back away a little from use of hand sanitizers and antibiotics.

"Are antibiotics the problem? No, they're wonder drugs," he says. "They're one of the greatest inventions in all of world history - but we're using them so commonly that we're having unintended side effects."

Miller says we're upsetting our bodies' natural balance.

He says doctors need to stand their ground and not give out prescriptions so easily.

"I was taught to use antibiotics when you should," Miller says. "But, that said, as a front-line physician I can tell you that there's a lot of pressure on doctors to offer antibiotics to patients or parents for their young children, because there's such a profound belief that they do the trick."

Miller believes kids should play with other kids, and should have pets early in life, because these types of exposure to other germs can help them avoid allergies later in life.


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