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.