Previous studies have shown that children who grow up around animals, including livestock, have a reduced rate of allergies. Now another study suggests that having a pet in the home, especially dogs help infants invitro as well as after they are born, have less instances of allergies and obesity.

Anita Kozyrskyj, a U of A pediatric epidemiologist who is one of the world’s leading researchers on gut microbes (bacteria that live in the digestive tracts of humans and animals) and her team have studied the relationship between less instances of allergies (especially asthma)  in children who live with pets, for over two decades.

Her Team has shown that a mother’s exposure to pets while pregnant, and the child up to three months after the birth, increases two bacteria, Ruminococcus and Oscillospira which are responsible for the reduction of allergies and obesity. These bacteria were almost doubled in the child’s body when pets, mostly dogs, were present before and after birth.

Kozyrskyj’s study also showed that having pets in the house during pregnancy reduced the transmission of vaginal GBS a group B strep during birth. GBS can cause pneumonia in newborns.

How wonderful are our pets!

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170406143845.htm