Children: Bacteria Linked to Lower Asthma Rates
By BINA VENKATARAMAN
Published: July 29, 2008
Common bacteria that have lived in human stomachs for generations are associated with lower rates of childhood asthma, researchers are reporting.
Their study, to appear on Aug. 15 in The Journal of Infectious Diseases, does not prove that the microflora, Helicobacter pylori, actually help protect children from asthma. It may be that asthmatics do not host the bacteria for other reasons.
Still, the recent study, conducted by researchers at New York University School of Medicine and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in New York, found that children who carried H. pylori were 40 percent less likely to have asthma before age 5. And children ages 3 to 13 who had the bacteria were 60 percent less likely to report that they had asthma at the time of the study. The study relied on interviews with individuals and their families to determine whether the children had asthma.
Antibiotics kill helpful bacteria as well as harmful ones, and previous research has linked antibiotic use in children with higher risk for asthma.
“H. pylori is disappearing, and this is a fact that probably cannot be changed,” said Dr. Yu Chen, the lead author of the study. “But it’s important to realize that bacteria that have been living with us for millions of years may actually have some beneficial qualities.”
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