Sleeping on animal fur within the first three months of life might prevent asthma in later childhood a new study finds.
The new research, presented at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) International Congress in Munich on September 8, 2014, suggests that exposure to the microbial environment in animal skin and fur could have a protective effect against asthma and allergies.
Previous research has suggested that contact with a wider range of environments from the early age might be protective against asthma and allergies. These findings haven’t been confirmed conclusively in urban settings. Within this new study, researchers investigated children from a city environment who had been exposed to animal skin by sleeping on the fabric shortly after birth.
Data from the German birth cohort called Lisaplus were used. The cohort included over 3,000 healthy newborns who have been mainly recruited in 1998.
They collected info on contact with animal skin during the first 3 months of life, together with information on the health of children before the age of 10 years. Information on 2,441 children was used in the study, with 55% of these included resting on animal skin in the first three months of life.
The results demonstrated that sleeping on animal skin was of a reduced risk of a number of factors connected to asthma. The risk of having asthma at the age of 6 years was 79% lower in children who had slept on animal skin after birth in contrast to those who were not subjected to animal skin. The danger decreased to 41% through the chronilogical age of 10.
Dr Christina Tischer, in the Helmholtz Zentrum Mnchen Research Centre, said: “Previous research has suggested that microbes found in rural settings can safeguard from asthma. A pet skin might also be a reservoir for various kinds of microbes, following similar mechanisms as continues to be observed in rural environments. Our findings have confirmed that it’s essential to study further the particular microbial environment inside the animal fur to confirm these associations.”
