Cats Trigger Allergies
Reported July 5, 2007
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Allergy patients may want to reduce their exposure to cats, even if they’re not allergic to the felines.
Researchers from the United Kingdom were surprised to find increased exposure to cat allergen was associated with greater bronchial responsiveness (BR) in allergy patients even if they were not specifically allergic to cats.
“We presupposed that we would find increased responsiveness only in those individuals who were exposed to cat allergen and whose blood tests showed that they were allergic to cats,” lead author Susan Chinn, D.Sc., Imperial College of London, was quoted as saying. “But our study suggests that all allergic individuals have signs of asthmatic responses if exposed to cat allergen, even if blood tests show that they are not allergic to cats.”
The study looked at data from 1,884 participants in the European Community Respiratory Health Survey follow-up. The information included IgE sensitization to four major allergens — cat, house dust mite, a common mold known as Cladosporidium, and timothy grass.
Results show among people with any sensitization, the difference in BR between those who had low versus high exposure to cat allergen was almost as big a difference as that between non-asthmatic and asthmatic patients.
Based on their findings, researchers say many people could benefit from reduced cat ownership and exposure. But they stress because the results were unexpected it is important to replicate them in other studies before they make firm recommendations.
SOURCE: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 2007;176:20-26