Washington: They may be cute and cuddly, but if you’re a couple getting ready to start a family then you better be aware that exposure to pet cats.
Cats can increase the risk of new born babies developing the skin disease eczema, according to a new study presented at the American Thoracic Society International Conference on May 21.
The study, which included 486 children who had been followed since birth, also found that being exposed to two or more dogs at home had a slightly protective, but not significant, effect on children's risk of developing eczema.
As a part of the study, the researchers, led by Pediatric Pulmonary Fellow at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Esmeralda Morales M D, questioned parents over the number of cats and dogs present in the house at the time the child was born, and then followed up one year later to see which children had been diagnosed with eczema.
The researchers found that of the 134 children with cats in the household, 27.6 per cent had eczema by one year of age, compared with 17.8 per cent of 286 children without cats.
They also noted that while exposure to cats increased a child's risk of eczema whether or not their mother had asthma, the effect was more pronounced in children whose mothers did not have asthma.
Dr Morales said that though previous studies have found that a pet in the house protects against allergic diseases, the new study showed that the exposure of a compound called endotoxin, present in cats and dogs, during an early stage in a child’s life may also skew the immune system.
"Other studies have found that having cats or dogs at home seems to be protective against allergic diseases, so we expected to have similar findings,” Dr Morales said.
"Pets are a source of a compound called endotoxin, and if a child is exposed to endotoxin early in life, the immune system may be skewed away from developing an allergic profile," she added.
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