Cockroaches Can Cause Asthma

Cockroaches have been identified as factors causing the emergence of number of patients with asthma among children in various settlements in New York City.

In some settlements, 19 percent - nearly one in five - children suffer from asthma, while in other settlements that number could amount to three percent.

Dense traffic, industrial combustion, and other sources of pollution outside the house, everything, has been blamed for respiratory illnesses in the past.

But researchers at Columbia University have now found that children who live in neighborhoods with high rates of asthma were twice as likely to have antibodies against cockroach proteins in their blood, a sign that children had been exposed to insects and suspected allergy to the animal.

In addition, houses in settlements that have asthma, have more allergens produced by cockroaches in household dust.

The study provides "further evidence that exposure to cockroaches is part of the story," said study author Matthew Perzanoweski, as quoted by Reuters Life!, Which was published Antara on Tuesday (14 / 6).

"Cockroach allergens can actually be the cause of differences in the prevalence of asthma, even in urban environments like New York City," he said.

For the study, published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Perzanowski and his team visited the home of 239 children aged seven and eight years. Half of them live in areas with high numbers of asthma sufferers.

Previous studies have linked poverty with an increase in asthma among young children, but to eliminate the influence of income or results, the authors included only families with health insurance plans with high incomes. The goal is to make sure they have the same opportunities and access to health care.

Over half of these children already have asthma.

During the visit, the researchers collected dust from the bed the children, then took blood samples to examine antibodies to various allergens associated with asthma - including dogs, cats, rodents, dust mites and cockroach proteins.

Nearly 1 in 4 children in the various settlements that have asthma seems allergic to cockroaches, compared with 1 in 10 children who live in areas where asthma was commonly found.

Cockroaches leave the protein that is inhaled and become a source of allergy, which in turn increases the likelihood they will suffer from asthma, said Perzanowski.

Houses in neighborhoods with high numbers of asthma sufferers also have higher concentrations of cockroach allergen ingredients, and allergens associated with rats and cats.

In addition, children who are allergic to cockroaches and rats are more likely to suffer from asthma, said Joanne Sordillo from the Channing Laboratory of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston. He examines all of these findings for Reuters Health.

"Exposure to a rat or cockroach allergens may increase the risk of allergies, which in turn is related to the development of asthma in children," he said.

Although the sensitivity of cockroach proteins more commonly found in children in an environment that has many people with asthma, overall, children who are allergic to dust and cats are more likely to suffer from asthma.

Perzanowski says, the problem of cat ownership is somewhat more grim. Some previous research has found children living in homes that have cats are more likely to have allergies, but in that study, a cat does not make a child susceptible to asthma.

"It's complicated. Avoiding the cat did not seem to reduce the risk of developing asthma," he said .*

Sources: Ant