The issue of Asthma, Allergies, and Immunity

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), roughly 1 out of every 12 people in the U.S. will have asthma. This is a frightening statistic, as the trend is only getting worse as time passes. The root cause of asthma is currently unknown, but many scientists speculate that genetics, poor living conditions, and exposure to certain viruses during infancy all play a key role in  the procurement of the disease. 

The "Hygiene Hypothesis" is a theory that suggests a young child's environment can be "too clean" to effectively stimulate or challenge the child's immune system to respond to various threats during the time a child's immune system is maturing. Hygiene is important, but too much of anything can harm you. In this way, there is a happy medium which we can achieve that involves consistent hygiene practices, while also casting aside any paranoia we may have about contracting viruses or infections. 

 

Many individuals, including myself, believe that we are over-sanitizing the environment our children live in. At least in developed nations like the U.S., we encourage children to always wash their hands with soap or use hand sanitizer. Children nowadays do not gain the same level exposure to the same environmental factors as they normally did. There have been many cultural changes in the past 50 years, and anybody can tell you that children in America go outside considerably less than they used to. There is no cure for asthma, but one way in which we can fix the issue is by making sure that it cannot manifest in the first place. 

Having pets in the house, ideally during the first two years of age, can significantly reduce the chance a child will be sensitive to any sort of allergen. Babies raised in a home with two or more dogs or cats were up to 77% less likely to develop various types of allergies at age 6 than kids raised without pets. This is not an end-all solution, but it highlights the fact that we need a certain level of exposure of microbes and particles. This is what allows our immune systems to recognize what is not harmful to our bodies, instead of having unnecessary reactions to a foreign substance entering the body that is harmless or inert. 

Sources:
Juarez, Disly. "Asthma and Allergies on the Rise in the U.S." Healthlines RSS News. Healthline News, 08 Nov. 2013. Web. 10 Mar. 2015. 
Kirchheimer, Sid. "Pets May Prevent Allergies in Kids." WebMD. WebMD, 14 Oct. 2003. Web. 10 Mar. 2015. 
"What Causes Asthma?" - NHLBI, NIH. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2015.
Davis, Charles P., and Mellissa C. Stöppler. "The Hygiene Hypothesis Definition, Information - MedicineNet." MedicineNet, 09 Dec. 2014. Web. 10 Mar. 2015.