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Researchers Find Bathing Babies Increases Risk of Asthma

Aired June 28, 2002 - 14:58   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Here's a story we wanted to bring you yesterday but we ran out of time. Parents of brand new babies can always find something to worry about. And here's something else. Researchers in Britain have found a simple and necessary act of bathing a newborn as increasing its risk of certain chronic illnesses. Lawrence McGinty of Britain's Independent Television News has the details now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE MCGINTY, ITV NEWS REPORTER (voice-over): It's a surprising result, but scientists in Bristol are pretty certain they found a link between how often you wash your baby and whether it develops symptoms of asthma or eczema. Amazingly, the more often you wash or bathe your baby, the more likely it is to develop symptoms by the time it reaches the age of 3 1/2.

The study involved 11,000 infants. So statistically, it's pretty reliable. But the question for researchers is how could better hygiene levels lead to diseases like asthma and eczema?

PROF. JEAN GOLDING, BRISTOL UNIVERSITY: It certainly appears from our research that for children who are kept really ultra, ultra clean, there is this adverse effect in the immune system that's sparked off to develop its normal reactions to infections because it's not getting the infections. So that's important. But on the other hand, you don't want to never wash your children.

MCGINTY: The theory is that early in life, contact with infections somehow primes the baby's immune system to behave properly. Cut out that contact, and the system doesn't function as it should, leaving the child vulnerable to asthma and eczema.

Asthma has tripled in the last 20 years. One in eight, over a million children, now have it. No one's suggesting you don't wash your children. But overzealous cleanliness could at least be part of the explanation for that increase.

Lawrence McGinty, ITV News.

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