Thursday, May 23, 2013

Good News: Dog Homes Swarm With Bacteria

The kid is healthy, the Dogues not so much.

A new study published in PLoS ONE says homes with dogs in them are swarming with bacteria, and that's a good thing.  Notes a summary article on the Discovery web site:

Bacteria would seem to be the last thing we’d need, but that’s not the case. This phenomenon, however gross sounding, seems to be healthy for most people.

Women who have a dog in the home when pregnant, for example, are less likely to have children with allergies. Researchers suspect the mom-to-be and her unborn child are exposed to a wider variety of microbes. They then become accustomed to them.

Previous research has shown that dog bacteria in a house also reduces the chance of childhood asthma.
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