Bacteria and fungi protect children against asthma
Children who live on a farm, and thus are particularly exposed to many environmental bacteria, have rare respiratory diseases and allergies than their peers. This shows an international study that has arisen with participation of researchers of the University of Basel. The research results are published in the current issue of the "New England Journal of Medicine".
The fact that farm children have a significantly lower risk of asthma than other children has already been proven in several studies in the past. A study carried out with the participation of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute associated with the University of Basel now shows that the protection of farm children is primarily due to the fact that they are exposed to a greater variety of microbes than other children.
The greater the variety of germs, the lower the risk of asthma. Farm children are also confronted with many more different environmental bacteria and fungi indoors than other children, and the risk of asthma even decreased with the increasing variety of environmental germs. Some germs that could be responsible for preventing asthma were found in the spectrum of germs examined. In addition to certain bacilli and staphylococci (e.g. Staphylococcus sciuri), these also include molds of the Eurotium genus.
How these germs reduce the risk of asthma is still unclear. Various possibilities are discussed. One would be that the combination of environmental germs stimulates the innate immune system accordingly and thus prevents the risk of developing asthma. Another explanation would be that the diversity of environmental germs prevents the growth of germs that may cause asthma.
European research project
Researchers from the following universities played a leading role in the studies: the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, the Technical University of Munich, the Universities of Besançon, Marseille, Ulm, Utrecht, the Imperial College in London and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basel. The work was funded by the European Commission (PARSIFAL study; GABRIEL study) and within the framework of the Collaborative Research Center Transregio 22 by the German Research Foundation.
Markus J. Ege, MD, Melanie Mayer, Ph.D., Anne-Cécile Normand, Ph.D., Jon Genuneit, MD, William OCM Cookson, MD, D.Phil., Charlotte Braun-Fahrländer, MD, Dick Heederik , Ph.D., Renaud Piarroux, MD, Ph.D., and Erika von Mutius, MD for the GABRIELA Transregio 22 Study Group Exposure to Environmental Microorganisms and Childhood Asthma N Engl J Med 2011; 364:701-709; February 24, 2011
Source: Basel [University of Basel]
