This is the result of a long-term study in which US-researchers looked at the health of children and their allergies in relation to pets. The result should put parents at ease who are afraid that animal hair can cause allergies or asthma in their child. These diseases will appear at no more than the same frequency in households with pets than in households without pets. As researchers write in the journal "Clinical & Experimental Allergy" early infancy is of utmost importance.

"We bring new proof that experiences in a child's first year influences their health in later life," says Ganesa Wegienka, medical scientist and biostatistician at the Detroit Henry Ford Hospital. Especially, it can be said that very early contact with pets does not raise the risk for allergies with the majority of children. Wegienka's team and colleagues from the Medical College of Georgia researched the data provided by a large long-term study.

Children born from 1987 to 1989 took part in the "Detroit Childhood Allergy Study" and were interviewed every year about their health and living conditions. These data showed when and for how long the children lived with dogs or cats that spent more than half the time inside the house or flat.

At the age of 18 a total of 565 participants handed in blood samples that were analysed for antibodies to dog and cat allergens.

The main result of the study shows: children who live together with dogs or cats do not acquire allergies to animals more often than children who grow up without pets. In addition to that, the study showed how important the time after birth is for the immune system.

A lot of children who grew up with a cat in their first year later suffered from a cat hair allergy only half as often as their peers who grew up without a kitty. However, only boys' health profits from contact with dogs: If they had contact to dogs as playmates in their first year, they later became ill with the relevant allergy only half as often as other boys.

For girls living together with dogs does not make a difference – researchers are debating whether this is due to a different kind of contact with the animals.

Wegienka's team now wants to look at the influence of pets on the developing immune system more closely and research shorter time frames – like the first three months or the first month only. Directly after birth the human immune system is little developed and therefore vulnerable to germs. By and by it develops protective antibodies and immune reactions in contact with the environment.

Source: Welt Online