--- David Wallinga <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> From: "David Wallinga" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Kids asthma, hog farms linked
> Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 10:52:52 -0600
>
> DesMoinesRegister.comDear Colleague:
>
>
> FOR SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE, GO TO:
>
>
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2004/7240/abstract.html
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Published December 10, 2004
>
> On the Web
> The full report is available at
> ehp.niehs.nih.gov/members/2004/7240/7240.pdf. A
> chart showing prevalences of
> asthma in rural Iowa children, according to their
> living environments, is
> available for downloading at www.public-health.
> uiowa.edu/news/releases/figure1.pdf
>
>
>
> Kids' asthma, hog farms linked
>
> A newly published University of Iowa study
> suggests that parents
> living on hog farms should protect their children
> from asthma by limiting
> exposure to dust from hog operations.
>
> James Merchant, dean of the U of I's College
> of Public Health, said
> the study published in the online Environmental
> Health Perspectives this
> week showed that children living on hog farms had a
> higher prevalence of
> asthma than did those living on farms with no hogs.
> It also raised questions
> about whether antibiotics fed to livestock play a
> role in the
> illnesses."Farms that added antibiotics to feed
> tended to have larger
> numbers of livestock than farms that did not add
> antibiotics to feed,"
> Merchant observed. "However, it is plausible that
> this route of antibiotic
> exposure may play some causal role in the
> development of childhood asthma."
>
> Added Merchant: "We believe that some of the
> increase in asthma risk
> is related to occupational and bystander exposures
> in animal feeding
> operations."
>
> The issue of antibiotics' role is important
> because other studies have
> shown that emissions from hog confinements often
> contain
> antibiotic-resistant bacteria. One of the latest
> such reports was released
> this week by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of
> Public Health, studying
> emissions in mid-Atlantic states.In an interview,
> Merchant said all parents
> living on hog farms should try to limit their
> children's exposure to the
> dust, especially if there is a family history of
> asthma. That includes
> making sure dusty work clothes and boots aren't
> taken in the house, he said.
>
> Merchant said the Iowa study, by correcting
> for other exposures,
> showed that a surprisingly high asthma prevalence in
> Keokuk County was
> statistically linked to hog farms.
>
> The study by Merchant and colleagues examined
> 644 children up to age
> 17 living in Keokuk County. The study sought to
> determine links between farm
> and other environmental risk factors and asthma.The
> study found indicators
> of asthma in 46 percent of those living on hog farms
> with more than 500
> pigs. The prevalence was even higher - 55.8 percent
> - among those living on
> farms that added antibiotics to feed as a growth
> stimulant, whatever the
> number of hogs present. Those living on farms with
> no hogs had an asthma
> prevalence of 33.6 percent.
>
> Many studies have shown rural children to have
> lower numbers of asthma
> cases than their city counterparts, Merchant said.
> This is a significant
> study showing the opposite to be true in the case of
> children living on hog
> farms, he added.The study controlled for other
> factors that might cause
> asthma.
>
>
> a.. Click here to go back to article
>
> Copyright © 2004, The Des Moines Register.
> Use of this site signifies your agreement to
> the Terms of Service
> (updated 1/3/2003).
>
>
>
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