Multiple Pets May Decrease Children's Allergy Risk
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Press Release: National Institute of Environmental
Health Sciences, August 27 2002
Children raised in a house with two or more dogs or cats
during the first year of life may be less likely to develop
allergic diseases as compared with children raised without pets,
according to a study in the August 28 issue of the Journal of the
American Medical Association. The study was supported by the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
"The striking finding here is that high pet exposure
early in life appears to protect against not only pet allergy but
also other types of common allergies, such as allergy to dust
mites, ragweed, and grass," says Marshall Plaut, M.D., chief
of the allergic mechanisms section at NIAID. "Other studies
have suggested a protective effect of pet exposure on allergy and
asthma symptoms, but generally have looked only at whether pet
exposure reduced pet allergy. This new finding changes the way
scientists think about pet exposure; scientists must now figure
out how pet exposure causes a general shift of the immune system
away from an allergic response."
In their paper, lead author Dennis R. Ownby, M.D., of the
Medical College of Georgia, and colleagues suggest that bacteria
carried by pets may be responsible for suppressing the immune
system's allergic response. These bacteria release molecules
called endotoxins, and endotoxins are believed to shift the
developing immune system away from responding to allergens
through a class of lymphocytes called Th-2 cells, which are
associated with allergic reactions. Instead, endotoxins may
stimulate the immune system to activate Th-1 cells, which may
block allergic reactions.
The researchers followed 474 children from birth to six or
seven years of age. When the children were one year old, the
researchers contacted parents by telephone to find out how many
pets were in the home. When the children were two years old,
researchers measured the level of dust mite allergen in their
bedrooms. When the children were six or seven, the researchers
tested them for allergic antibodies to common allergens by two
approaches - a skin prick test and a blood measurement.
After adjusting for factors such as dust mite allergen levels,
parental smoking, and current dog or cat ownership, the
researchers found that children exposed to two or more dogs or
cats during the first year of life were on average 66-77 percent
less likely to have any allergic antibodies to common allergens,
as compared with children exposed to only one or no pets during
their first year.
"Our findings suggest an area of research with many
possibilities, one that could potentially bear fruit over the
next decade or so," says Dr. Ownby. "If we could find
out exactly what it is about pets or the bacteria they carry that
prevents the allergic response, scientists might be able to
develop a new allergy therapy based on that knowledge."
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