Have
Pets In The House
It May Decrease Your Child's Chances Of Developing Allergies To Animals.
Written
by Karen Squires
Editor
By now most of you know that we have a pet rat called Blue Jack. My son Keaton loves him dearly. In fact he loves Blue Jack enough to let him lick his face, lips, and if he laughs while Blue Jack is licking his lips, the rat will also lick his tongue. At first it made me squeamish. The rat lives in a cage that we keep fairly clean but it certainly is not bacteria free by any means. I kept expecting Keaton to come down with some horrible disease but he's been letting rats lick him for years now and we've never seen even the slightest hint of a problem. In fact I'm so used to it now (although not okay with it) that I realize he is safer kissing a rat than being around humans, which frequently make him sick with colds and flues.
When my older son Joay was a toddler he would take a bite out of his cookie and then let the dog take a bite, then it was back to his turn again. My mother-in-law would absolutely freak out when she saw this. I pointed out that Joay was in more danger of becoming sick from her than the dog,... open mouth insert BIG foot.
Needless to say both my kids are healthy and very much still alive. In fact neither of them have any allergies to pets at all.
Studies from the Medical College of George (MCG) have recently shown that having pets may help your children's allergies. Dr. Dennis R. Ownby, chief of MCG's Section of Allergy and Immunology followed children from birth to age seven and discovered that having one or more pets helps children become less likely to develop allergies.
For years allergists have claimed that having pets in the home would increase your child's chances of becoming allergic. This came from the idea that in order to become allergic to something you need to be exposed to it a number of times.
Dr. Ownby was very surprised by the results. They were the opposite of what he expected. He speculates that the reason children have so many allergies today is because we lead lives that are too clean.
When Keaton let the rat lick his face and when Joay shared his cookie with the dog they received a lot of Gram-negative bacteria. This bacteria changed the way their immune systems responded. That lick and shared bite gave Keaton and Joay exposure to higher levels of endotoxins, the breakdown toxin from Gram-negative bacteria.
Similar studies from Germany and Switzerland have show that children who live on farms are less allergic than children raised in the city.
If your child is allergic to animals talk to your pediatrician about allowing them to have a pet. You child may benefit from the endotoxins they will receive and will certainly benefit from having a pet.
Visit http://www.motherchronicle.com
for more informative articles.
email karensquires1@msn.com with
question or comments.