 Most children, even the youngest of children, are delighted to be around cats and dogs. But these pets carry plenty of germs and allergens, prompting researchers to ask: Are cats and dogs really safe for children?
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that, contrary to many parents' fears, owning cats or dogs does not increase a child's risk of developing allergies, and in fact, may actually protect them.
The study's lead author, Dr. Dennis Ownby of the Medical College of Georgia, says that even he was "very surprised" by the results. Ownby and colleagues followed more than 470 children from birth to age 6 or 7, comparing those exposed to cats and dogs during their first year of life to those who were not. By using skin-prick tests for detecting common allergies, the researchers found that, contrary to what many doctors had been taught for years, children who had lived with a pet were not at greater risk. Even more remarkable, children who had two or more dogs or cats had an even greater reduction, up to 77 percent, in risk of allergies. And not only were they less likely to develop allergies to cats and dogs, but also to dust mites, short ragweed and blue grass. Researchers suggest this protective effect may be the result of early exposure to lots of bacteria that are carried by dogs and cats. Exposing young children to these bacteria helps "exercise" their immune systems early in life so that they're better able to resist allergic diseases later. Previous research showed that children raised on farms and exposed to animals were less likely to have allergies as well. "There's something very important in that first year of life when the immune system is developing that we can retrain it away from an allergic response," said Dr. William Davis of Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York. And while researchers are not encouraging parents to buy dogs or cats just to reduce a child's allergy risk, they say if a family already has one or more animals, there's no need to get rid of them. (Agenceis) | 小孩子几乎都很喜欢和小猫、小狗等小动物呆在一起。但是这些宠物身上携带大量的细菌和过敏原，促使研究员们提出这样一个问题：猫狗等小动物真的不会引起孩子的过敏吗？ 美国医学会杂志发表的一项研究报告声称：与大多数父母的忧虑正好相反，养宠物非但不会增加儿童患过敏症的危险，反而可以保护儿童免受过敏等疾病的困扰。 从事这项研究的负责人，乔治亚医学院的丹尼斯·奥恩比博士说他自己也对这个结论感到"非常惊讶"。 奥恩比和他的同事研究了470名儿童，跟踪记录了他们从出生到6、7岁的身体情况，并把在第一年里养宠物的儿童和不养宠物的儿童进行比较。 研究人员对儿童进行皮肤点刺检测常见过敏症，结果发现，和宠物生活在一起的小孩患病的概率并不比其他小孩高。  更值得注意的是，那些拥有两只或更多小宠物的儿童，患过敏症的病例甚至要少很多，比同龄儿童降低了77％，他们不但不易对小猫和小狗过敏，而且对尘粒、豚草和早熟禾等过敏原的过敏率也下降了。
研究人员解释说，这种保护性的免疫效果可能和儿童早期接触了携带量细菌的宠物有关。在孩子小时候，这些细菌让免疫系统得到了锻炼，增强了自身的免疫能力，使得他们长大后能够抵抗过敏的侵袭。
早期的研究也发现，那些在农场长大，跟动物接触的小孩，同样不易患过敏症。 纽约市哥伦比亚长老会医学中心的威廉·戴维斯博士指出："婴儿出生后第一年是免疫系统形成的时期，这时有一件事非常重要――我们能锻炼免疫系统避开过敏反应。" 当然，科学家并不是要鼓励父母买小宠物来预防孩子过敏。他们只是认为已经养宠物的家庭没有必要放弃心爱的宠物。 注：Ragweed, 豚草属的杂草，有绿色、雌雄合一的小花冠，能产大量花粉，是引起干草热的主要原因之一 (中国日报网站译) |
Updated: 2002-09-02 01:00
