Cats Can Help Cut Child allergiesChildren brought up with cats may he less prone to develop allergies than those
in feline-free households according to a new Australian study.
Research found that unless children showed symptoms and there was a family
history of allergies, they were likely to develop a stronger immune system if
they had a feline friend.
Dr Catarina Almqvist studied 516 children born in Sydney hospitals from 1997 to
2000. Tests showed 29 per cent of the children, whose families had acquired cats in
the past five years, had a positive test for allergy.
The figure for feline free households was 47 per cent positive.
There were similar findings for dog owning families, with 52 per cent of kids
without dogs testing positive and 39 per cent positive if they had a dog.
The study focused on cats because some of the families had dogs at the time the
children were born. None of the families in the study had a pet cat at the time
of their child's birth.
The results were similar to European studies, said Swedish-horn Dr Almqvist,
from the Woolcock Institute for Medical Research at the University of Sydney.
Dr Almqvist said parents who had been thinking about getting rid of pets
because they feared their children may become allergic could now make more
informed decisions. By Rosemary Desmond Reprinted from article in The Sunday Mail April 9th 2006 | 
