Gut microbes in infants tend to increase risk of allergy and asthama

Gut microbes in infants tend to increase risk of allergy and asthama
Microbes living in a baby's gut within its first month of birth, may impact the immune system and lead to allergies and asthma later.

Currently, children are typically six or seven years old when they are diagnosed with asthma, which has no cure and has to be managed through medication.‘But if the genesis of the disease is visible as a disruption of gut microbiota in the very earliest stages of postnatal life, it raises an exciting question: could we reengineer the community of microbes at-risk infants to prevent allergic asthma from developing?’ said Susan Lynch, Associate Professor at University of California, San Francisco in US. ‘If we are to prevent disease development, we need to intervene early,’ Lynch said, adding that early testing, microbiome reengineering could help prevent asthma before it starts. In this study, researchers conducted repeated follow-up appointments during the first year of life, then tested the infants for allergies at the age of two and for asthma around their fourth birthdays. (Read: 7 triggers of asthma in kids)

The team used high-throughout genetic analysis of the stool samples to map the gut microbes of 130 young infants around one-month of age.Analysing a number of environmental and socioeconomic factors to learn why some children developed a high-risk gut microbiome profile, the team found that male infants were more likely to have the problem than females, and also that those who didn’t have dogs in the home were also more at risk. The results appeared in the journal Nature Medicine . (Read: 19 baby care tips for every new mum)

Source: IANS

Image source: Shutterstock

Disclaimer: TheHealthSite.com does not guarantee any specific results as a result of the procedures mentioned here and the results may vary from person to person. The topics in these pages including text, graphics, videos and other material contained on this website are for informational purposes only and not to be substituted for professional medical advice.

Previous Article

Ganga Ram Hospital witnesses three more chikungunya deaths

Next Article

Gentle light-based treatment can treat deadly heart rhythm disorders