TUCSON, May 6 (UPI) — If researchers are right about a bacterial extract’s ability to prevent asthma in high-risk children, millions of children and parents may be able to breathe easier about the condition.
Researchers at the University of Arizona plan to enroll 1,000 babies in a clinical trial to see if the extract reduces asthma symptoms during the first few years of their lives.
Previous studies have shown children exposed to microbes on farms with livestock and dusty barns are less likely to develop asthma than children in sanitized urban homes rarely exposed to environmental bacteria.
For the last 35 years, researchers at the University of Arizona have been following children, tracking whether they have developed asthma, alterations in their lungs and elements in their blood to find ways to predict asthma.
During that time, Dr. Fernando Martinez, a researcher at the Asthma and Airway Disease Research Center, said he has found that when children are exposed to environmental bacteria before age 6, it strengthens their immune systems and lowers their risk for asthma. Based on this, he theorizes treating babies with a bacterial extract could kickstart this strengthening earlier in life for those at highest risk for the condition.
“Researchers across the world have tried to prevent the development of wheezing illness and asthma for decades,” Martinez said in a press release. “However, studies either reducing or increasing exposures to allergens early in life or using probiotics such as lactobacillus have had disappointing results and likely are not the way forward. Our current study seeks to stimulate the immune system in a safe manner in early life to prevent wheezing illness and, hopefully, the later development of asthma.”
The trial, titled “Oral Bacterial Extracts: Primary Prevention of Asthma and Wheezing in Children,” will randomly treat the 1,000 babies with a bacterial extract or non-active placebo during the first two years of the study, and then track the number of asthma symptoms during the third year.
“Asthma is a disease that affects 10 percent of all children in the U.S., significantly impacting their ability to thrive,” Martinez said. “With this new study, we have the opportunity to identify children at the earliest stages of life who are at highest risk for disease and initiate early therapies to minimize respiratory tract illness. Following these children during the preschool years will further enhance our understanding of the disease, provide additional precision approaches to therapy and lead to optimal prevention strategies, and — hopefully — a cure.”
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