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http://www.chiro.org/Immunity/ Early Life Infections Improve the Function of the Immune System by Daniel J. Murphy, DC, FACO Vice President of the ICA A 1998 article published in the journal THORAX titled: Early Childhood Infection and Atopic Disorder [ 1 ] notes: 1) Atopic diseases (asthma, hay fever, and eczema in this study) are rapidly rising in westernized communities. 2) The mechanism for this increase in atopic diseases is reduced exposure to microbes. 3) Atopic diseases were significantly statistically linked to immunization with the Pertussis vaccine and to treatment with oral antibiotics in the first two years of life. 4) The authors conclude that exposure to certain infections repress atopic disorders. A 1999 article published in the journal THE LANCET titled Atopy in Children of Families with an Anthroposophic Lifestyle notes [ 2 ] 1) The increased prevalence of atopic disorders in children may be associated with changes in childhood infections as related to vaccination programs and antibiotics that alter intestinal microflora. 2) Children who use antibiotics restrictively and have few vaccinations have lower levels of atopic diseases. Another 1999 article published in the journal CLINICAL EXPERIMENTAL ALLERGY titled Antibiotic use in early childhood and the development of asthma notes [ 3 ] 1) Antibiotic use is significantly associated with a history of asthma. 2) If antibiotics are used in the first year of life there is a 305 percent increased risk of developing asthma when compared with children who had never used antibiotics. 3) If antibiotics are used only after the first year of life there is a 64 percent increased risk of asthma when compared with children who had never used antibiotics. 4) The greater the number of courses of antibiotics given to children, the greater the risk that they will develop asthma. 5) “Early childhood infection may have a protective role against the subsequent development of asthma.” 6) The treatment of infant infections with antibiotics could play a role in the development of childhood asthma. 7) Antibiotics increase the risk of asthma by “reducing the intensity and duration of acquired bacterial infections.” 8) There is a “temporal association between the increasing prevalence of asthma and the increasing use of antibiotics throughout the developed world.” A 2000 article published in the journal ALLERGY titled The immunology of fetuses and infants: What drives the allergic march? notes [ 4 ] 1) Atopy refers to allergic conditions which include hay fever, asthma, and eczema, and are associated with the production of IgE antibodies to common environmental allergens. 2) The risk of atopic disease early in life is particularly high in Western industrialized countries. 3) The critical period that influences the development of atopy is the first years of life. 4) “A decline in certain childhood infections or a lack of exposure to infectious agents during the first years of life could have caused the recent epidemic of atopic disease and asthma.” 5) Recovery from natural measles infection reduces the incidence of atopy and allergic responses to house-dust mites to half that seen in vaccinated children. 6) Bacterial infections are modulators of the atopic march. 7) The use of antibiotics during the first two years of life increases the risk of asthma. Another 2000 article published in the journal THE NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE titled Siblings, Day-Care Attendance, and the Risk of Asthma and Wheezing during Childhood notes [ 5 ] 1) Young children with older siblings and those who attend day care are at increased risk for infections, which in turn may protect against the development of allergic diseases, including asthma. 2) Exposure of young children to older children at home or to other children at day care protects against the development of asthma and frequent wheezing later in childhood. 3) The incidence and the prevalence of asthma among children have increased dramatically in the past three decades, making it the most common chronic disease of childhood in the United States, and a decrease in infections during early childhood may be responsible. 4) “The incidence of asthma among children who had two or more older siblings or who attended day care during the first six months of life was significantly lower than that among children who had one sibling or no siblings and who did not attend day care.” 5) Bacterial or viral infections occurring during infancy may provide important signals to the newborn’s maturing immune system. This article generated an editorial titled Day Care, Siblings, and Asthma — Please, Sneeze on My Child , that included the following comments: [ 6 ] 1) “Parents generally agree that children who attend day care or who have older siblings have more frequent infections. They may be surprised to learn, however, that this tendency may protect their younger children from asthma.” 2) “A common factor underlying the increased prevalence of asthma and atopic disease may be a reduction in early exposure to microbes, with a lasting influence on immune development.” 3) An important signal for normal postnatal immune system maturation is exposure to microbes. Deprivation of these signals in infants may allow a change that increases the risk of eventual asthma and atopic disease. A 2001 article published in the journal ALLERGY titled The causes of the increasing prevalence of allergy: Is atopy a microbial deprivation disorder? [ 7 ] 1) “The atopic diseases, i.e., primarily, bronchial asthma, atopic dermatitis, and allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, were rare a few decades ago, but constitute today an increasingly severe public health problem.” 2) “The increase in the prevalence of the allergic diseases, especially in those born after 1960, is almost explosive, and there are now epidemics of allergic diseases in many countries.” 3) “The prevalence of asthma in children and young adults has tripled and quadrupled in many industrialized countries during the last two decades.” 4) Allergic sensitization may occur in utero. [Important, as noted below.] 5) Allergic sensitization that occurs early in childhood tends to persist throughout life. 6) The very first months of life are of crucial importance in allergy development. 7) “The more children in the family, the more infections they encounter” and this may help to prevent allergy. 8) Viral infections protect against allergic disease. 9) “If the assumption that early viral or bacterial infections protect against the development of allergic diseases is correct, vaccination should lead to an increase of allergic disorders.” 10) Atopy is correlated to MMR vaccination (measles, mumps, rubella) and with the administration of antibiotics. 11) There is a significant relationship between treatment with antibiotics during the first two years of life and later development of allergy. 12) “Multiple courses of antibiotic treatment are associated with higher allergy prevalence, and the finding that treatment with broad-spectrum antibiotics appears to be more likely associated with allergy development than is ordinary penicillin.” 13) “Microbial agents do indeed play a protective role in the development of allergic disease.” 14) Childhood infections lower allergy prevalence, especially bacterial infections. 15) “From an evolutionary perspective [INNATE], it is perhaps not unexpected that the immune system, which over millions of years has adapted to a heavy microbial load, may react in an ‘inadequate’ way upon a sudden, radical decrease of this load, caused by vaccinations, antibiotics, and especially improved hygienic conditions.” 16) “A change in the ‘microbial load’ seems to be the most probable cause of the increase in the allergic diseases.” A 2002 article published in the journal ALLERGY titled The rise of atopy and links to infection notes [ 8 ] 1) This article explores the evidence that “exposure to certain antibiotics and public health immunizations in early life” are the cause of atopic disorders. 2) This article also explores the evidence that “certain microbial exposures [infections] can inhibit experimental allergy.” 3) “Certain natural infections promote immune regulatory processes that can restrain atopy.” 4) 45 percent of children in some countries may be suffering from atopic disorders. 5) “Antibiotic receipt in early life is associated with more subsequent atopy and asthma.” 6) Antibiotics given early life (