Bacteria enter eczema fight

The bugs used to make yoghurt may hold the key to solving the growing epidemic of eczema in New Zealand's children.

Researchers from the Wellington School of Medicine have begun to give the bugs, called probiotics, to children aged between one and 10 who have allergic eczema.

The group already has about 30 participants, who will be given probiotics for 12 weeks, and needs another 30.

The contents of a probiotic capsule will be sprinkled on the child's food.

Asthma research group director Julian Crane said there was evidence from overseas studies that probiotics could boost the immune system.

"We want to see if we can boost the immune system away from allergy by using bugs that used to occur much more commonly in the bowel 50 or 100 years ago."

Professor Crane said it was difficult to say how many people suffered from eczema, but an estimated 20 per cent of people had it.

Eczema had until recently been the "country cousin" to asthma, which had been more intensely studied. But it was increasingly seen as a marker for asthma and hay fever later in life.

Professor Crane said New Zealand, along with other places to which British people had migrated, was one of the most allergy-prone countries, leading to high rates of eczema, asthma and hay fever.

The reason for the high rates of allergic disease was not known, but part of the problem was suspected to be better hygiene compared with a century ago.

Without antibiotics and sanitary sewage and water systems, children were exposed not only to more infections but also less clean food and water. Allergic diseases, however, were virtually unknown.

"We have this incredibly complicated system in our bodies for fighting infections, and nowadays it has almost nothing to do.

In some cases the immune system starts to invent work for itself by responding to foods, house dust mites, pet and pollens instead of the body's natural enemies - bacteria and viruses.

"What we are trying to do in this study is give the immune system a history lesson by putting some natural old fashioned bugs back for the immune system to think about."

Bacteria were important in the functioning of the human body.

Professor Crane said the research group, in association with Auckland University, was also planning a study to see whether probiotics could prevent the onset of eczema.

- NZPA

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