Keep cats away from a home full of kids

They may seem cute and cuddly, but cat hair poses an allergy risk, especially kids up to the age of two, a new study has found.

Washington, May 3 : They may seem cute and cuddly, but cat hair poses an allergy risk, especially kids up to the age of two, a new study has found.

The study refutes the findings of earlier papers that stated that contact with cat allergens during the first few months of a child's life has a protective effect.

The study was conducted by scientists from the GSF - National Research Center for Environment and Health (GSF), Helmholtz-Association, who evaluated the data of more than 2,000 children from Leipzig and Munich.

The researchers also found that even just repeated contact with cat hair within or outside the parental household increases the frequency of allergic sensitisation on the basis of the detection of IgE-specific antibodies against cat allergens.

The study is based on data of the multicentric LISA study. LISA stands for Lifestyle - Immune - System - Allergy and is intended to demonstrate the influence of lifestyle on the immune system and the development of allergic diseases in children.

As a part of the study, parents of kids born between late 1997 and early 1999 were repeatedly questioned about different family and health parameters as well as the frequency of contact with cats and other pets. The researchers also carried out blood tests on kids at the age of two and six years.

The boffins noted that up to the age of two, there were clear connections between exposure to cat allergens at home and the frequency of allergic sensitisation. This connection was found to a lesser extent in six-year-old health outcomes.

"Contact with cat allergens at home does not have the main significance in this age group," explains the head of the research unit Environmental Epidemiology at the GSF Institute of Epidemiology, Dr. Joachim Heinrich.

In all the scientists found allergic sensitisation to cat allergens in 1.3 per cent of the two-year-old and 5 per cent of the six-year-old children.

"The most important risk factor for allergies in children is, however, still the family history. If the parents suffer from hay fever, asthma or pet allergies, their children are more likely to also show allergic symptoms," said Joachim Heinrich.

The study also shows that risk families in particular must still be advised not to keep cats and to avoid contact with cats in general. This, however, does not guarantee sufficient protection from allergic sensitisation with cat allergens.

The study is published in the May edition of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

ANI