Are germs good for babies?

This CNN article says so. Here's a sample:

"The prevalence of allergies has increased substantially in the past 15 years, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and some experts believe that too much cleanliness might be a contributing factor.

Dr. Dennis Ownby, chief of allergy and immunology at the Medical College of Georgia, found in a study that babies in households with multiple pets have fewer allergies at age 6 or 7 not just to animals, but also to ragweed, grass and dust mites."

While I'm not a germophobe, I also wouldn't advocate eating off the office floor. Ew. Guess that puts me somewhere in the middle of this argument.

Granted, not having the most resilliant immune system myself, I'm not looking forward to sharing all the germs that baby Z might get into, but if it'll build her a better immune system in the future, I can take it.