H. pylori : The friendly neighbourhood bacteria.

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News > National: Medical progress may mean more cases of asthmahttp://www.saukvalley.com/articles/2007/05/01/news/national/307152612206913.txtScripps Howard News ServiceBY LEE BOWMAN SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE When it comes to preventing or controlling asthma and other ills, new research is finding things that are bad for us may also be good for us.Exhibit one is a new study by researchers at the New York University School of Medicine. They found people infected with a strong strain of the stomach bacterium Helicobacter pylori, which causes stomach cancer and peptic ulcers, were 40 percent less likely to have asthma before age 5 than people who didn't carry the strain.The study also found the germ is associated with protection against ragweed, pollen and mold allergies, particularly among young adults."Ultimately, the potentially protective properties of Helicobacter are consistent with one another and point to a much more complex view of the organism," said Dr. Martin Blaser, a professor of internal medicine and microbiology at NYU who has been studying H. pylori for more than two decades.The bug lives in the mucus lining of the stomach, where it persists for decades. People usually get it before age 10, and it mainly spreads within families.The bug has become less common in younger people due to improved sanitation and the widespread use of antibiotics that tend to do collateral damage to many germs in the gut.Today, fewer than 10 percent of children in developed countries carry the organism, but about 90 percent of kids in developing nations still are infected, usually by age 5. Asthma and allergy rates remain low in those countries, for the most part."This bacterium has been the dominant organism in our stomach for tens of thousands of years, and it can't disappear from us without consequences," Blaser said.Blaser's findings, published recently in the Archives of Internal Medicine, seem to fit a still-evolving theory that asthma has become much more widespread in the past four or five decades as people in developed countries live in cleaner, less-well-ventilated homes and spend less time outdoors and particularly around farms and livestock.On the other side of the asthma battle is a compound called chitin, a substance that toughens the shells of insects and creatures like crabs, lobsters and shrimp, as well as molds.Researchers at the University of California-San Francisco, led by Dr. Richard Locksley, have found even though humans and other creatures with internal skeletons don't have chitin, they make special enzymes in the lining of the lungs that breaks the compound down.There also are known to be genetic mutations that affect how efficiently the body is at making the enzymes. Locksley's latest work, in mice lacking the ability to make the enzymes, showed how when they were exposed to chitin, severe allergic inflammation followed.Now, scientists are working to see if patients with asthma are more likely to have a less-active version of the genes that prompts manufacture of the anti-chitin enzyme.Locksley suggests the immune response to chitin evolved in humans as a defense against parasitic invaders like mold, worms and insects. Many common bacteria also break down chitin, but in a cleaner environment with fewer bacteria, more chitin from mold and insects may survive and cause problems to people whose natural chitin defense isn't strong.In both Locksley's work, which was published online in the journal Nature, and Blaser's, the researchers are hoping that by fully understanding the genetic and environmental influences on asthma, they'll be able to design better prevention strategies and perhaps treatments for asthma and allergies. • • • 2007 Sauk Valley Newspapers - US: 1 in 150 children has AutismUS: 1 in 6 children suffers a developmental disorderNew Jersey: 1 in 94 has Autism UK: 1 in 86 has Autism China : Over 20 lakh autistic children, India : No authentic figures, expected one crore+ (1 in 250)AUTISM IS NOTHING BUT MERCURY POISONING.THERE IS MERCURY IN VACCINES!!