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Research from Germany suggests that babies
exposed to a bacterial component in house dust may be less
likely to develop the allergy-related skin condition eczema
than children who live in cleaner homes.
But parents shouldn't get too happy about
a dusty house. The infants in the study living in the dustiest
homes were more likely to experience a variety of respiratory
ailments in the first 6 months of life, such as wheezing,
bronchitis and infection.
Previous research suggests that common
house dust contains endotoxin, a component from
the cell walls of several different kinds of bacteria.
Experts speculate that when babies are
exposed to infectious agents or their components, it might
cause changes in the immune
system that reduces the risk of developing certain allergy-related
conditions.
This theory is known as the "hygiene
hypothesis."
To investigate the relationship between
endotoxin and eczema, the team of researchers evaluated the
health and homes of 1,884 infants. "House dust from the
mother's and children's mattress was sampled 3 months after
birth," the report indicates.
During the
first 6 months of life, babies living in homes with the highest
levels of endotoxin had about half the risk of eczema as those
with cleaner living quarters.
On the other hand, these same children
were more likely to suffer respiratory infections. The risk
of wheezing more than doubled for these same infants at 6
months, and at age 1 their risk of wheezing was 1.6 times
higher than those in relatively dust-free homes, the authors
add.
The study supports the hygiene hypothesis
that exposure to high concentrations of endotoxin very early
in life might protect against the development of atopic (allergy-related)
eczema, along with increased risk prevalence of non-specific
respiratory disease.
In infants and young children, eczema
manifests as intensely itchy, red patches that can ooze and
crust over.
Journal of
Allergy and Clinical Immunology November 2001;108:847-854
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