Asthma may be caused by common colds during pregnancy

A study found an association between pregnant women who had the common cold and their children developing asthma.

Women that are pregnant may want to take extra precaution around those that are sniffling and sneezing this winter. According to a new study published today, the more common colds and viral infections a woman has during pregnancy, the higher the risk her baby will have asthma.

The study, published in the February issue ofAnnals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, found a mother's infections and bacterial exposure during pregnancy affect the in utero environment, thus increasing a baby's risk of developing allergy and asthma in childhood.

"In addition, these same children that had early exposure to allergens, such as house dust and pet dander, had increased odds of becoming sensitized by age five," said allergist Mitch Grayson, MD, Annals deputy editor and fellow of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI). "When dust mites from the mother and child's mattresses were examined, children with high dust mite exposure yet low bacteria exposure were more likely to be allergic to dust mites than those with low mite exposure and high bacteria contact."

Researchers studied 513 pregnant women in Germany, and their 526 children. Questionnaires were completed during pregnancy, when the children were three and 12 months old, and every year up to five-years-old. Of the families, 61 percent had a parent with asthma, hay fever or atopic dermatitis.

According to the ACAAI, asthma and allergy can be hereditary. If both of a child's parents have allergies, the child has a 75 percent chance of being allergic. If one of the parents is allergic, or if a close relative has allergies, the child has a 30 to 40 percent chance of having some form of allergy. If neither parent has allergy, the chance is only 10 to 15 percent.

"We know that allergy and asthma can develop in the womb since genetics play a factor in both diseases," said allergist Michael Foggs, MD, ACAAI president. "But this study sheds light about how a mother's environment during pregnancy can begin affecting the child before birth."

Asthma is the most common potentially serious medical condition to complicate pregnancy, according to the ACAAI. In fact, asthma affects approximately 8 percent of women in their childbearing years. When women with asthma become pregnant, one-third of the patients improve, one-third worsen and one-third remain unchanged.

Women who are or plan on becoming pregnant should continue speaking with their board-certified allergist about treatment options and how to eliminate symptom triggers. More information and a video about allergy and asthma during pregnancy, visit http://www.acaai.org/pregnancy.

Read more here

Peanut exposure therapy results in desensitization for children with peanut allergies

A British study found that children with peanut allergies who were fed peanut flour, while under supervision of a doctor, over time became desensitized to peanuts.

A British study provides some of the strongest evidence yet that feeding small amounts of peanut flour to children and teens with peanut allergies can help desensitize them to the nuts.

But the approach remains experimental and much too dangerous for anyone to try without medical supervision, experts say.

For the study, published Thursday in the journalLancet, researchers divided 99 children into two groups who took turns undergoing the therapy. The patients ate increasing – but small – amounts of the peanut flour under the watchful eyes of doctors.

In both six-month rounds of therapy, more than half of the treated participants ended up able to eat the equivalent of 10 peanuts at a time. More than 80% could eat the equivalent of five peanuts. The initially untreated children showed no such improvement after the first round.

Some of the treated children did get upset stomachs and one child ended up having an allergic reaction severe enough to require an injection of epinephrine.

The results are "exceptionally promising," but the treatment remains years away from routine use, says an editorial accompanying the study, written by Matthew Greenhawt, a pediatric allergist at the University of Michigan. He also notes that studies have yet to show if patients can develop long-lasting tolerance.

U.S. researchers also are studying the approach – known as oral immunotherapy – for peanuts, walnuts and other allergens, says the non-profit group Food Allergy Research & Education.

For now, the group says, the only proven treatment for peanut allergies is avoidance.

Allergies to peanuts and tree nuts affect 1.4% of U.S. children and rates have been rising, surveys find. Nut allergies are the leading cause of fatal allergic reactions.

Read more here

Animal Lovers Do Not Despair If You Have Asthma or Allergies

It's overly simplistic if not wrong to say that animals cause or are responsible for poor asthma control in children.  While pet dander may truly exacerbate symptoms in some children, having pets alone does not necessarily increase asthma risk or risk of poor control.  In fact, pets may be helpful.  Dr S

Why Having a Dog Helps Keep Kids Asthma-Free
If you’re a dog person, your kids might be in luck. Research suggests that children who grow up in homes with pets are less likely to develop allergies, and now a recent study by researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, sheds some light on why.

Working with mice, the scientists found that exposure to house dust from homes with a pet appeared to protect the mice against a common virus called respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which infects the lungs and breathing passages and is a major cause of respiratory illness in young children. (In adults, it usually causes run-of-the-mill cold symptoms.) Severe infections in infancy are linked with an increased risk of developing respiratory problems like asthma later on.

Lead researcher Kei Fujimura and her team looked at three groups of mice. One group was fed house dust from homes with dogs, and then exposed to RSV; a second group was infected with RSV without exposure to dust; and a control group of mice was not exposed to RSV or dust.

The study found that the mice that ingested house dust and were exposed to RSV didn’t develop the telltale symptoms of infection, such as lung inflammation and mucus production — these animals looked just like the controls. The researchers then examined the microbes living in the protected animals’ guts, and found that the types of bacteria they harbored were different and more diverse than the bugs in the RSV-infected animals guts.

What do gut bugs have to do with asthma? Potentially a lot. Researchers are discovering that the microbiome, as it’s known — the vast community of good bacteria and viruses that live in and on the human body, including in the intestines — not only play a vital role in basic bodily functions like digesting food, producing vitamins and fending off infection, but may also contribute to the development of chronic conditions and diseases like obesity, cancer and asthma.

Our bodies begin to acquire these crucial microbes at birth, during our journey through the birth canal. From that point, exposure to everything — from grandparents to pets — influences the makeup of the microbiome. It’s theorized that microbial exposure in infancy, when the immune system is maturing, may help protect children against later allergies and asthma.

In earlier work, Fujimura found that house dust from homes with cats and dogs had significantly different types of bacteria than dust from homes without pets. And previous studies have suggested that early life pet exposure and ownership is associated with reduced risk of asthma. “This led us to speculate that microbes within dog-associated house dust may colonize the GI tract, modulate immune responses and protect the host against an asthmagenic pathogen, RSV,” she said in statement about the study, which was presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in San Francisco.

The findings support the hygiene hypothesis of allergy and asthma development, which posits that exposure to germs in childhood helps strengthen the immune system, reducing the risk of childhood respiratory and allergic diseases. Studies have shown, for instance, that kids who grow up on farms and around livestock are less likely to develop asthma and allergies than those who live in more sterile urban environments.

“Everybody appreciates the fact that we’re all missing something big in asthma,” Dr. Robert Mellins, a pediatric pulmonologist at Columbia University, told ABC News. “People have appreciated that viral infections clearly have an association, and this kind of experiment is interesting because it suggests a mechanism of how that could come about.”

Fujimura concludes that identifying the specific species of microbes and the precise mechanisms that underlie the protective effect of dog-associated house dust could help researchers better understand and treat allergies and asthma.

Read full article here

Research Roundup: Key Findings on Kids' Asthma and Allergies
Early Findings on Asthma and Allergies
By Meredith Melnick Thursday, March 24, 2011

As rates of asthma and food allergies continue to rise, researchers are seeking to better understand, diagnose and treat the sometimes life-threatening conditions. Earlier this week, doctors, researchers and academics in the field gathered at the annual American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) conference in San Francisco to present some of the latest research. Here are some of the most interesting data they shared.

Read more at the link.

Home Remedies for Allergies

Allergies are the result of an immune system run amok; they develop when your body overreacts to a normally harmless substance, such as pollen, cat dander, or dust. About 20 percent of Americans are plagued by allergies. The hallmark symptoms include sneezing, coughing, wheezing, chest tightness, difficulty breathing, itchy eyes, hives, and rashes.
For allergies to things like foods and medications, avoidance is your only option. But for allergies to seasonal things, like pollen, or those in your home, like dust mites, there's a lot you can do to minimize the misery. Here, the best home remedies to soothe allergies and allergy symptoms.

When To Call A Doctor

- Welts that spring up in response to exposure to an allergen, also known as hives. They may indicate the onset of anaphylactic shock, an allergic reaction severe enough to kill. Seek medical attention promptly.
- Wheezing -- a whistling sound when you breathe.
- Asthma -- congestion of the chest severe enough to make breathing difficult, often accompanied by wheezing.
- An allergy attack that doesn't respond to OTC medications within a week.
- Any time your allergy symptoms prevent you from doing things you want to or make you miss work or school.

Read the rest of the article here.