Rodent of the Week: Germ exposure in pregnancy may benefit kids, study indicates

The hygiene hypothesis is the idea that exposure to germs early in life builds a stronger immune system and lowers a child's risk of developing allergies and asthma. Another piece of evidence for that concept, published this week, shows that even exposure to germs during pregnancy may reduce allergy risk in the offspring.

German researchers exposed pregnant mice to airborne barnyard microbes. (Studies in humans show children who are raised on farms develop fewer allergies than kids raised in non-farming communities.) The exposure triggered a mild inflammatory response in the pregnant mice, which was measured by an increased expression of microbe-sensing receptors called TLRs and the production of immune system substances called cytokines. The exposed mice gave birth to offspring who were resistant to allergies caused by the microbes. The study was published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

"...Studies have demonstrated that many factors affecting the initiation and course of respiratory allergies appear to act within a narrow window of opportunity, either prenatally and/or early in life. It is still unresolved, however, how protective signals are transferred from the mothers to the developing fetus," the authors wrote in the paper.

The paper adds "a new twist" to the hygiene hypothesis, said experts from the Center for Child Health Research at the University of Western Australia, in a commentary published with the study. The allergy response in human tissues differs from mice, they cautioned, but more attention should be paid to maternal environmental exposures during pregnancy that might influence the health of the offspring.

-- Shari Roan

Photo credit: Advanced Cell Technology Inc.

Comments

[Moon Pie]

THIS is news?

Or rather, someone spent money to study this concept???

Heck folks, every living adult female in my family from Mom to Great often told us kids that "you had to eat a pound of dirt before you were 5 in order to stay alive".

And we did.

Usually by not washing our hands before eating and sometimes licking the dog.

BY dirt, we understood that they meant germs and other nasties. Let one kid in a neighborhood get measles or something and ALL our Mamas took us to "visit" the poor sick child...in hopes that WE would either get exposed or just get it and get it over with!

Guess what?

We didn't get colds (to this day I still don't). We weren't allergic to things (peanuts and shrimp fear ME). Few, if any, had asthma or consumption or "delicate conditions". No one was named Brittany or Kyle either for that matter - but I digress.

Bottom line, for what this study cost in time and money - any Southern Mother could have told them the same thing for free.