Cats, dogs and allergies
|
|
From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I'm Nicholas Garlow with HHS HealthBeat.
A study indicates early exposure to pets is a good thing for preventing allergies to pets.
Researchers found that when they measured allergic response to cats and dogs from birth through the teen years.
Ganesa Wegienka is an epidemiologist at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.
"Exposure in the first year of life actually decreased the risk of being sensitized to that dog or cat later in life." (7 seconds)
Common symptoms of a pet allergy include:
"Itchy, watery eyes, itchy, runny nose, congestion, and in children who are asthmatic and sensitized to cats or dogs, exposure to the cat or dog may trigger an asthma exacerbation." (12 seconds)
The study in the journal, Clinical and Experimental Allergy, was supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Learn more at hhs.gov.
HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Nicholas Garlow.