Fewer allergies for children on the farm

Sunday, March 8, 2015

In Wisconsin, the Marshfield Clinic hopes to discover exactly why children born and raised on farms are less likely to have asthma or allergies, according to Wisconsin Public Radio.

The clinic's National Farm Medicine Center plans to follow and compare 100 babies from farm families and 100 from non-farm families, starting in the womb until age two. The researchers will track the bacteria and allergens to which the babies are exposed, the babies' health and how their immune responses then develop. The Center's director Dr. Matthew Keifer told Wisconsin Public Radio that "if we know what those exposures are, that really convey that immunologic advantage, then there's likely to be some way that we can replicate that for non-farm children."

According to the John Hopkins Children's Center (JHCC) seven million children in the United States suffer from asthma, making it one of the most common pediatric illnesses. Separate studies by the JHCC and other institutions found that while city children are at a higher risk of developing wheezing or asthma than farm children, even in the city children exposed to a wide variety of household bacteria and certain allergens – such as pet dander, pollutants, or roach and mouse allergens – before age one had better chances of not becoming asthmatic.

During this study the Marshfield Clinic is working with the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health and has received a five year, $5 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, according to a statement by the university. BF