After noticing that allergic asthma and eczema levels are rising in North American children, Canadian scientists wandered just how clean we must be in order to allow good bacteria to develop and protect us from autoimmune diseases.
Dr. B. Brett Finlay, a Professor in the Michael Smith Laboratories at the University of British Columbia said that “we see autoimmune diseases like asthma and eczema increasing rapidly in North American children, but we don't see the same effect in children in the developing world.”
This fact has led him to be part of a project called the 'Impact of the Microbiota on Immune Development and Disease', that will analyze microbiota (a type of microorganism that lives in or on our body) and its possible link to autoimmune diseases in children.
“The so-called 'hygiene hypothesis' is the idea that we are killing off good bacteria along with bad bacteria with some of our habits, whether it is bleaching countertops or antibiotic use in early childhood,” said Finlay.
“If these intestinal bacteria play a role in preventing autoimmune diseases, then our desire to be ultra-clean may mean that kids aren't getting the bacteria they need to have strong immune systems later in life.”
The Canadian researcher has gathered an interdisciplinary team that will study this bacteria and, hopefully, will identify the several microbiota types that are living in the gut.
The next step will be to look at mice models and, at the same time, follow the health development of Canadian kids enrolled in the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development Study – CHILD.
This should allow them to gain an insight on the role of the microbiota within the immune system, and maybe find additional information on how to treat asthma, eczema and other diseases.
This big project will last for five years and it is partly funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and
Genome BC – giving $1.875 million and $625,000.
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