Vaccination of Newborn Mice with Bacteria Suppresses Asthma as Adults

The hygiene hypothesis proposes that a 20th century surge in allergies and asthma is because people are living in increasingly hygienic environments. Rather than the rural farm life of the agricultural 19th century, families live in urban and suburban communities, have fewer children who can exchange infections, bathe and wash their hands more frequently, and use antibiotics excessively. This all means reduced infant exposure to microbes that would have tempered excessive immune reactions, such as asthma, later in life.

In a third publication relating to allergic lung responses, University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers have used an asthma model that lends support to the hygiene hypothesis. They report that asthma caused by adult exposure to cockroach detritus is blocked in mice that were vaccinated as newborns with a particular bacteria.

Click here to Read the full article: Vaccination of newborn mice with bacteria suppresses asthma as adults