Stomach Germ May Protect Against Asthma

Disappearance of H. pylori could leave kids more susceptible to the disease, study says

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

Related Encyclopedia • Acne • Alagille Syndrome • Allergic Rhinitis • Allergies More... Related Healthscout Videos Picture Perfect Smile Space Age Dental Scan Detecting Lung Disease Bioengineering versus Avian-Based HA? More... Related Animations • Allergy • Asthma • Dental Cavities More... Related Drug Information • Adderal XR • Advair Diskus • Allegra • Allegra D More... Related News Articles • Beware of Toxic Toys This Holiday Season • Women Smokers Lose 14.5 Years Off Life Span • School Soda Ban Has Limited Effect • Hair Beads Spurring Head Trauma in Kids More...

TUESDAY, July 15 (HealthDay News) -- A stomach bacterium called Helicobacter pylori may reduce a child's risk of developing asthma by as much as 50 percent, a new study suggests.

H. pylori has been present in the human stomach probably since humans were humans. However, the germ began disappearing over the course of the 20th century with the introduction of antibiotics and cleaner water and homes, perhaps making children more susceptible to asthma, the study authors suggested.

Text Continues Below

---

"In our study we asked the question, is there any relationship between having H. pylori in the stomach and having asthma and other allergic disorders," said lead researcher Dr. Martin J. Blaser, the Frederick H. King Professor of Internal Medicine and chairman of the department of medicine at the New York University Langone Medical Center in New York City.

"We found a strong inverse association between H. pylori and childhood asthma, childhood hay fever and childhood allergies," added Blaser, who's also a professor of microbiology and has studied H. pylori for more than two decades.

Blaser thinks that H. pylori may protect the body against asthma. "When children have H. pylori in their stomach, their immune system is different than if they don't have H. pylori," he said.

H. pylori has been disappearing especially since World War II, which is when the incidence of asthma began increasing, Blaser said.

For the study, Blaser and his colleague Yu Chen, an assistant professor of epidemiology, collected data on 7,412 children who participated in the 1999 to 2000 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey IV, conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics.

Among children in the survey, just 5.4 percent born in the 1990s tested positive for H. pylori. In addition, 11.3 percent of the children under 10 had taken antibiotics in the month before the survey.

Page:  1 | 2 | Next >>