Beware if you have a cat in your home and your kids are less than two-year old, as cats pose a great risk of causing allergic problems to your little ones. However, you can breath little easy if your kids are over this age group as grown-ups are less susceptible to the allergy that is caused by cats’ hair. Scientists from the GSF National Research Center for Environment and Health Helmholtz-Association have drew such conclusions after analyzing the data that was collected from over 2,000 children from Leipzig and Munich. After monitoring the data scientists also found that allergic sensitization to cat allergens is 1.3 per cent in the two-year-old kids and 5 per cent in six-year-old children.
The study that has been published in the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology also says that not just the presence of cat in the house but the continuous exposure of kids to cat’s hair poses an equal risk of such allergy.
Head of the research unit Environmental Epidemiology at the GSF Institute of Epidemiology, Dr. Joachim Heinrich said:
The most important risk factor for allergies in children is, however, still the family history. If the parents suffer from hay fever, asthma or pet allergies, their children are more likely to also show allergic symptoms.
During the course of study the parents of those children’ who were born between late 1997 and early 1999 were asked to responds to questions like family history and frequency of children’s exposure to cats and other pets. The study has advised parents not to keep cats as pets and also to restrict their children contact with them.
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Source: Sciencedaily