The next time your child asks for a dog, you might want to reconsider. A study published in the Journal of Pediatrics found that children at risk for allergies—with a parental history of asthma, nasal allergies or eczema—were at less of a risk of eczema if they grew up with a family dog in the house.
While the children were under the age of one, researchers collected dust samples from their home. The kids also underwent yearly allergy tests. Overall, the research team led by Dr Tolly G. Eptstein, assistant professor at Ohio’s University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, found 14 per cent of the children had eczema at the age of 4. But the rate was only 9 per cent among the group that had a dog in the home during infancy.
According to Epstein, there is no solid explanation for the protective effects of dogs, but she speculated that early exposure to dog allergen (substances in pet dander, saliva and urine) affects children’s immune system development in such a way that eczema becomes less likely to develop.
“It may be that these children develop a tolerance, but we don’t know that for sure,” Epstein said. Cat allergen, she noted, may, in theory, have distinct effects on immune system development. Another study found that dogs may have an adverse affect on asthma sufferers.
Epstein cautioned that the findings do not prove that puppies are protective and kitties are bad for allergy-prone children. Instead, they add to what appears to be a complex relationship between the family pet and human allergies.