Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comExposure to dog or cat during first year of life doesn't cause allergies and can lower risk for some children, 18-year study shows
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The Epstein study referenced in this article is pretty interesting. I think that all of this seems to sit well with the "hygiene hypothesis": if you have an over sanitized home your kids' immune systems go haywire.
Oh and... Go DOGs! Dogs are the best!
WOOF!!! to that!!!!!!
Epstein study results: "Oooooh, oooooooh, oooooooh, ooooh, Mr. Kotter"!
The study is a good one, but i'd prefer if they continued it - and not cut if off at 18 years. Many of us are developing allergies in our late 20's & 30's...
so this study falls a bit short for figuring out if that first year really plays any role.
For me, my allergies came in my late 20's after getting really sick with some sort of virus/flu that lasted over a week...and each part of my body felt like I had been run over by a truck several times, even laying down hurt incredibly bad...and then, within 1-2 months...suddenly I was allergic to cats (which I had a couple), dogs, shellfish (never had issues with it before), peanuts, onions, trees, and the list goes on and on.
I dont know if I had a dog when I was born or not, cant remember...but what good will that do for all the other things I suddenly became allergic to, as well?
To me, a study based on WHEN people develop their allergies would likely find more interesting results, so long as it asks all the questions...what have you eaten recently, where have you been, what illnesses have you had and so on. asking limited questions "did you have a dog when you were born" yields only the result you are looking for, and as studies over and over have proven...next year, another study will come out saying having dogs increases your risk...because it focused on another angle of the same question.
Wider net, you'll catch bigger...and more fish.
bottom line we know more about mouse immune system and allergen tolerances than we do human.
Also, some people have terrible allergies as children and outgrow them. Where are the studies on THAT?
My MIL had a very difficult time becoming/being pregnant and my husband was very asthmatic. And she was insanely clean. I have a theory that much of his sickness is psychological because in the almost 10 years we've been together, he has used his nebulizer/inhaler less and less frequently. He grew up with dogs (hypo-allergenic and regular) and always said he was allergic to cats. Would make such an issue of being in a home that had cats. I had him get updated allergy tests and turns out he is more allergic to dogs than cats. Now he is opening up to the idea of getting a siberian cat for our kids so long as I bathe it once/week, vacuum/dust frequently, and never let it in our bedroom. :)
I'd believe this. I have read several times that kids exposed to soil, animals etc. have better adapted immune systems. I hope so anyway because I'm sure my kids have played with toads and then picked their nose! :-)
My two kitties are looking forward to playing with and getting their fur all over the little one in my tummy!!!!
I am not allergic to cats and had cats growing up, but am allergic to dogs (which I never had). I may have to find a friend with a dog to introduce the little bundle too during its first year of life so it doesn't end up like me!
Good for you Leslie and congratulations.
Your willingness to introduce your baby to the natural world is, I believe, a very healthy state of mind.
My neighbor, who has no allergies (nor does her husband), was (is) a germ freak always using antibacterial wipes and never letting animals in the house. The maid comes 3 times a week and the bleach smell is always present in their foyer.
Her son is allergic to peanuts, strawberries, gluton, eggs, certain pollens and the list goes on. He has had several dramatic illnesses that seem to indicate his immune system is struggling more often than not.
I'm not the best house keeper in the world (I try...not the worst either) and we had the dogs since BEFORE my kids were born. I work at a zoo and don't always wash my hands before touching everything in the house when I come home from the job. My kiddos not only have NO allergies..... They don't get sick. No strep, ear infections, runny noses- nothing.
I have heard of similiar stories from others I work with. Ask around about this.
It's nice to hear of a mom-to-be who isn't afraid of her surroundings.
Good Luck!
Good for you! My mom had cats and dogs and birds and horses when I was growing up and we live(d) a very outdoorsy life, and I have no allergies at all. My son is 5 months and he should be set too, since we have 12 dogs, 5 cats, 2 horses, and chickens! Without the germs around, the baby's immune system never has a chance to develop proper responses.
My best friend has a very over protective mom, so when her little sister was born turns out she's allergic to chicken, dairy, nuts, the list goes on. I feel so bad for her poor sister, it's not her fault that her mom like bubblewrapped the house
Both of my kids were allergy free while youngsters, my daugter developed seasonal allergies in her early teens, my son in his early 20's. My daughter developed allergies to pets in her mid 20's, despite us always having a cat from the day she was born( at least one) and having dogs, horses, hamsters, rabbits, mice ( that the cat dragged in and we kept for the winter), lizards, birds and hermit crabs during her years at home.... she is mostly allergic to the cats and horses but did not develope those allergies until she got a dog of her own.
My daughters doctor ( the old country type) predicted she would have allergies when she got older because she always had dark circles under her eyes... and he was right.
I do think the study is valid, but I think that it only works for some or maybe only to a certain degree, who knows, maybe my kids would have been much more allergic had they not been exposed to the fur bearing creatures at an early age. No matter what, the crittersenriched their lives, allergic or not, so she vacuums and cleans more so her kids can grow up with furry companions as well.
This is old news, years ago researchers noticed that children on farms had fewer allergies than those who weren't exposed to animals in their early years.
except I believe that was for allergies in general rather then specific allergies to the animals themselves. I think it's interesting to decouple the two- especially if you want your kids to have the options of pets later in life.
I wonder if the results they found in this study can be explained by allergies that run in families-i.e., if you are allergic to dogs then you are both more likely to have children allergic to dogs AND not own a dog perhaps partially explaining how children with a family pet are less likely to be allergic to that type of animal later? Of course, the data is not entirely consistent with this explanation since the correlation is only with family pets at <1 year. Maybe this study could be strengthened using a random sample of adopted infants? Twins separated at birth for extra points (Thankfully this is less common now though)
There's always exceptions apparently. Older kid - c-section, no pet, fewer allergies. Second kid - no c-section, had dog, had such a terrible allergic reaction to the dog that we had to get rid of him. :( (The dog.) Second kid also misses a lot of school due to hayfever. "Clean house syndrome" is also NOT a factor around here, lol.
Oh, and both were nursed for 2 years. Go figure.
Raising you kid in a bubble like a hot house plant is the worst thing you can do. Your child has to develop within a normal living environment to be capable of adjusting to the various things that make up your world.
I agree with this 100%
Bighorn
I agree as well. 100%
Agreed!!! and good thing because I always had house full dust and general untidiness when the kids were little. I let them get filthy while playing during the day and we were lucky if we got the first layer of crust off them with a washcloth before dinner. (Yes they usually had nightly baths). I also banned that antibacterial soap business, because you do need germs for your body to learn how to get rid of them. My 18 year old does have questionable mild seasonal allergies and my 17 year old out grew all of his allergies by age 12. (ironically right after we got our first pet)
Good luck with that if one/both parents is allergic to dogs/cats.
I would take this as a suggestion rather than the rule.
Allergies are strange things. I had cats as a child, but became allergic at age 9 when we moved to the UK. I'm still horribly allergic. Dogs, no issues, either here or in the UK. The really odd thing was that I had to move back into my parents' house after a divorce, and while I'd always had an allergic reaction to the latest cat (introduced immediately after I moved OUT of the house, LOL), I managed to co-exist almost allergy-free with it for the 11 months I lived there. How did I suspend my immune system for that long? After I moved out, I figured I was in good shape, but no, had allergic reactions whenever I visited after that. Go figure.
Otherwise allergic people's immune systems can kick in properly and develop an immunity (at least temporarily) to animals they are exposed to on a regular basis. My mom is allergic to cats, but we always had at least one in the house (at one time up to five). She always reacts to a new cat at first, but adjusts and is fine after that initial discomfort. Put her in a house with a cat she is not used to and she gets the whole red, itchy eye, tightness in the chest reaction. My guess is, you got used to that cat while you were there, but once you weren't around it as much, you lost that immunity.
My brother and I had a dog growing up, was there before I was born. Both of us had allergies as a child (although not to animals). I outgrew mine, his got worse. In fact, at 46, they are STILL getting worse. I have none at all. All my kids were around animals from day one, and none are allergic to any animals, and only one has any allergy at all (to penicillin). Oddly enough, I found I was allergic to rabbits about 10 years ago - had never been around them ever before.
Not a day goes by that I don't thank the powers that bet that I do not have allergies....
every day? dang- sounds like you're a little obsessed...
Everyday I thank the powers that be for still having a job then I move onto not having allergies. Its all about the checks and balances.
Sounds like Emily in Iowa is cruising the net, looking for someone to pick a fight with??
naw, not looking for a fight- just sounded a little weird and wanted some clarification. I mean, I'm happy I don't have allergies but I hardly think about it much. I'm more likely to be thankful for my job and my family.
My husband and I both developed pet allergies with puberty whereas my brother lost his pet allergies in his teens.
EmilyinIowa - dang, sounds like you're a little judgemental.
Meridith - I come from a family who has multiple allergies to all kinds of things. I, luckily, have none involving animals as I have 4 cats, 1 dog, and used to have a large number of pet rats. These animals are my substitute children and I love them a great deal.
Large number of pet rats? Did they happen to have Bubonic plague? Did you know that rats are the primary carrier of bubonic plague there JEB? What happened to the rats Jeb? Did you and the cats fight over them at the dinner table??
Wild rats can have bubonic plague, pet/lab rats will not. Rats are kind of fun, curious little beasties, & easy to feed; they'll eat anything we do (& some things we won't).
Rats are not, technically speaking, the primary carriers of the plague. The fleas that are the primary carriers of the plague happen to live on rats. But if your rats do not have fleas, they are fine. Even if they do have fleas, the odds of them being plague carrying fleas are very, very low. It's not like rats are inherently born with the plague. And, yes, they can make fun pets.
44 and never had an allergy in my life!! neither kid or hubby either!!
Pets?
what kind of allergic reactions do dogs and cats get from humans???do dogs and cats get allergies fromus??? just a thought!!!
No David, they do not. We always knew that, for those of us raised on farms, that bonding with a pet at a young age, provided several immune system benefits. You have to do it before your old enough to wander outside on your own though. Until recently I did not know anyone who had allergies, got the flu, and very rarely did anyone get a cold, until recently. Now that Arizona is on fire, and the smoke here is so thick and ashes are falling out of the sky, we all have allergies now.
well, NM— Native-3593124---
How do you KNOW that ??your not a STUDY by being on a farm,or you missed my point!. I was born with dogs and cats and had a pennicillian allergie, but it wasn't from my pets!!!
what kind of a name is yours,native ? or are you ashamed of yours!!!
Hogwash! It is easy to skew research to support a hypothesis. The article does not address people who have a genetic disposition to allergies. My family has a history of many forms of allergies, so we chose not to allow house pets. The kids have plenty of outdoor time and interact with all kinds of critters outside, which is normal development of their immune systems. People and animals were never intended to share closed spaces especially in the US where our central HVAC systems are a closed loop. If we didn't live with the animals and spent more time outdoors, we would have great interaction with animals, less allergic reactions to animals and also not be so obese.
Wow! I think you must spend a lot of time in left field while you are outdoors, because that's where your comment came from. Why the hostility toward pets owners? People and animals were never intended to share closed spaces? How and why exactly did you come to that conclusion?? Who says what was "meant to be" anyway? Domestic dogs and cats would simply not even exist if not for people (we created them through selective breeding and the process of domestication, which has, over the thousands of years of domestication resulted in artificial genetic frequencies, resulting in the breeds we know and love today), so they were most certainly meant to cohabitate with us, whether you approve or not. Don't have pets -- that's your choice. Don't try to force your choice on everyone else by claiming to have an inside perspective on what's meant to be.
I will give you one thing -- HVAC systems are unnatural. Recycled air is not healthy. That is not a judgment call, just reality. People should open a window every now and again. But that is a totally different issue.
This sounds good but just won't wash in the general population. We sure aren't clean freaks and have twins who got into everything and still do. We had a cat from way before they were born until he died at 21 last year, and one girl is horribly allergic to them and reacted since the first time I set her on the couch (where he laid sometimes) as a tiny baby. She teared up, sneezed, and got congested, and she is still allergic to them and dogs too. She is severely allergic to shellfish and allergic to dairy as well, so I would agree it depends on the person and the genetics and situation.
The other one (fraternal twins) is not as bad with it, but reacts a bit. I never used to react to dogs/cats as a child much, although with a lot of smoke in the house I had horrbile allergies otherwise, but now if they get on me or I pet them I am miserable, and that only happened after being in a house often where they had many cats..omg I was so sick with allergies and asthma.
My grown son loves cats and sniffs while he insists he isn't allergic to them...lol.
So the hygiene idea is interesting, but doesn't always apply. I have horrible allergies and mild asthma, my husband has mild asthma and skin allergies, and if at least some of my kids didn't have some allergies it would have definitely been luck. Genetics does play a big role, and of course logic dictates that allergic families are going to be less likely to have cats or dogs for pets anyway. Another study where not all factors were controlled for I believe.
Some people are reading a little too into this study. It just says that there is a lower risk of having pet allergies if there was a pet in the house for the first year. It does not say that every kid who had a pet in the first year will not have allergies, therefore, obviously there will still be people who develop allergies to a dog or cat even if they were in a house with a dog and cat and vice versa. It's not an exception if your kid has allergies even though you had a pet, it's just that they were less likely to develop them than those that did not have a pet, but still wound up with them. And they are referring to pet allergies, not seasonal or food allergies. So having a pet doesn't necessary affect food allergies, at least in this study since that is not what they were observing.
A few people did make a good point about the study though. Most likely adults who have allergies are not going to have pets themselves. This would not allow them to expose there children to pets in the first year and so when their kids develop allergies it's hard to say the nuture vs. nature in their cases.
The theory behind dogs giving some sort of protection is linked less to the 'hygiene hypothesis' than to the 'old friends theory'. Nope the dogs are not the old friends but the friendly bacteria on their hair, worm eggs in their poop all help to keep the immune system of man 'well exercised'. Its not just dogs, a little roll in the hay, splash through ponds is definitely healthy too. We live in a 'too clean' glass bubble nowadays, sanitizer this, sterilizer that. Play for children means TV, Laptop and Xbox. lets learn to live again.
Oop, it posted my message twice, sorry, there seems to be no delete button.
Cow's breastmilk~ has also been shown to cause uncalled-for allergies in children (as well as intestinal bleeding). Please go vegan, then, if you can, adopt from a shelter.
And yet people have been drinking cows milk for thousands of years. Why, exactly, has the species not all but died out from internal bleeding?