Summary: Scientists are finding that children who are spend their first few years of life in a country other than the US tend to have less cases of allergies and asthma than US-born kids. However, after an extended period of living in the US, the allergies can develop. The hypothesis put forward is that young children who are exposed to things such as dirt, animal dander, and other aspects of a grubby life end up developing an immune system that will detect disease-causing compounds from harmless ones. This way, the child does not have an overreacting immune response to harmless things like pollen or grasses. Foreign-born children also have a lower rate of things like asthma and fever, though this immunity can fade after living in the US for about 10 years. Though the reason for the increased protection from fevers and asthma is unclear, it is hypothesized that the diet of Americans and a lower rate of Vitamin D. When immigrants move to America their diet is not as good, and Vitamin D is solely dependent on the Sun, whereas they have supplements in their home countries.
Relevance: The reduced allergy and asthma rates are due to a more well-developed immune system that doesn't react violently to harmless particles. We learned in class about how the immune system defends against foreign particles.
Link: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/350112/description/Allergy_asthma_less_frequent_in_foreign-born_kids_in_US
If a child went from being born in the US to living in a foreign country, would their immune system get stronger?
ReplyDeleteDoes this apply to all immigrant children from all over the world? Can immigrant children with immune systems that are not functioning the best not have asthma and allergies when arriving in the US?
ReplyDeleteThe Reply button doesn't seem to be working so I had to add a comment to reply.
ReplyDeleteFor the first question I think the answer is Yes because it is the environment that increase the strength of the immune system not the nationality of the person, so if someone were to move to a foreign country it would make sense if their immune system became stronger
For the second question I think that the countries in which children get their immune system boosted are only those that have a dirty-life style. So if a child was living in a clean environment in a foreign country, then they probably would not have their immune system strengthened.