An article was recently published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology entitled "Furry pets modulate gut microbiota composition in infants at risk for allergic disease". The researchers studied infants that lived in homes with furry pets. The infants were found to share some gut bacteria with the pets. This sharing of bacteria is believed to help protect people against selected allergies by strengthening the immune system.
The selected infants had mothers with allergies which put the infants at an increased risk of developing allergies. It has been thought that early exposure to pets can trigger allergies in children. Dr. Merja Nermes of the University of Turku said, “Earlier it was thought that exposure to pets early in childhood was a risk factor for developing allergic disease. Later epidemiologic studies have given contradictory results and even suggested that early exposure to pets may be protective against allergies, though the mechanisms of this protective effect have remained elusive.”
The goal of the study was to determine how exposure to household pets could influence infants’ immune systems. 51 infants were included in the study with furry pets (dogs, cats, or rabbits) and 64 infants without pets in the home.
Fecal samples were collected at 1 month of age and tested for animal-specific bacteria: B. thermophilum and B. pseudolongum. 33% of infants with pets had animal-specific bacteria in their fecal samples and 14% of infants without pets had animal-specific bacteria in their fecal samples.
At 6 months of age infants had skin prick tests to examine their allergies to cow’s milk, egg whites, flours, soybeans, birch, grasses, cats, dogs, potatoes, and bananas. 19% of all studied infants had allergic reactions, none of which had B. thermophilum in their fecal sample at 1 month.
Previous studies have linked growing up on a farm or regular exposure to dog dander had increased protection against airway allergens. Children that grew up with pets have also been found to have increased “richness and diversity” in their gut microbe population. Nemes said, “When infants and furry pets live in a close contact in the same household, transfer of microbiota between pets and infants occurs. For example, when a dog licks the infant´s face or hand, the pet-derived microbiota can end up via the mouth into the infant´s intestine.”
It is currently unknown whether exposure to animal-specific bacteria during childhood protects people against allergies later in life. Nemes said, “Future research is needed to assess if these infants develop less atopic dermatitis, asthma or allergic rhinitis later. If a family with a pregnant mother or an infant wants to have a pet, the family can be encouraged to have one, because the development of allergic disease cannot be prevented by avoiding pets.”
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