I had all sorts of childhood diseases there are now vaccines for, and I was very fond of dirt. I've never had any type of bacterial skin infection and I haven't had anything worse than a sinus infection or strep throat in my whole life since then. I don't know if my childhood exposure is connected to this or not, but it would make sense.

I remember my mother dragging me off to play with a neighborhood kid when she found he had chicken pox so I'd get it and become immune. Didn't catch it, but I got a very bad case when I was 16. I think this may have been a common practice back then. You did not want to come down with some of those things when you got older!