When researchers analyzed fecal samples from 746 babies, they found
having dogs and cats in the home during pregnancy and early infancy
was associated with higher levels of two gut microbes: Ruminococcus
and Oscillospira, which have been linked with lower odds of
allergies and obesity, respectively.
“The concept of a `dog intervention’ during pregnancy as a
preventive measure for allergies and obesity is not too far-fetched
but definitive studies are required to provide evidence for this
health benefit,” said senior study author Anita Kozyrskyj, a
pediatrics researcher at the University of Alberta.
While the study doesn’t prove pets directly prevent allergies or
obesity or demonstrate how cats and dogs cause changes in gut
bacteria, it’s possible that pet exposure during pregnancy may
influence the composition of gut microbes in the infant by affecting
the mother’s vaginal or skin microbes, Kozyrskyj said by email.
Changes in the mother’s microbes might be passed on during birth,
even with a surgical delivery, Kozyrskyj added. After that, pets
might directly transfer beneficial microbes when they touch babies,
and infants may also pick up pet microbes that are left on household
surfaces or in dust.
About 45 percent of the households in the study didn’t have any
pets, and another 8 percent only had animals during pregnancy,
researchers report in the journal Microbiome.
Among the homes with pets both during pregnancy and afterwards, 44
percent had only dogs, 34 percent had just cats and 20 percent had
at least one of each.
Regardless of the way babies were delivered, they were more than
twice as likely to have high levels of Ruminococcus and Oscillospira
when they were exposed to furry creatures while in the womb or
during infancy.
Among vaginally delivered babies whose mothers got antibiotics to
prevent group B Streptococcus transmission during birth, infants
exposed to pets in utero or after delivery had lower levels of
Streptococcaceae bacteria in their feces. This family of bacteria
can cause pneumonia in infants.
[to top of second column] |
Pet exposure was also linked to lower fecal levels of Enterobacteria
even among babies born by emergency cesarean who normally have high
levels of these microbes at three months of age. These bacteria are
associated with Salmonella and other infections.
The study isn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove that pets
prevent diseases, the authors note.
Still, the findings add to growing evidence linking exposure to
household pets and farm animals with a lower risk of health problems
like asthma and allergies, said Tove Fall, a researcher at Uppsala
University in Sweden who wasn’t involved in the study.
“This study shows that some bacteria are more common in the gut
flora of children born in homes with pets - these findings need to
be replicated in other studies,” Fall said by email. “It is not
known how these bacteria affect the child health, but in general a
higher diversity and richness of the gut flora is thought to help to
protect the child from diseases linked to the immune system.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2pqBoEQ Microbiome, online April 6, 2017.
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
|