B.C. research uncovers links to asthma; Fecal samples taken from hundreds of infants reveal missing bugs

Vancouver-based researchers have identified four strains of bacteria that they believe babies need in their digestive tract to prevent asthma, opening up the possibility of a preventive treatment.

The work published Wednesday in Science Translational Medicine fleshes out recent studies pointing toward the importance of a wide variety of bacteria in the human gut – known collectively as microbiota – for goodhealth. It’s the first time specific bacteria have been linked to asthma.

Scientists at the University of British Columbia and BC Children’s Hospital found the bacterial strains Faecalibacterium, Lachnospira, Veillonella and Rothia were lacking in fecal samples from three-month old babies who tested positive for a predisposition to asthma.

The samples came from 319 babies in the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) study. Those children are now between three and five years old and some have developed asthma as predicted, said co-author Dr. Stuart Turvey, pediatric immunologist at BC Children’s Hospital and director of clinical research at the Child Family Research Institute.

“What this study helps emphasize – and there’s a growing awareness of this recently – is that we need to rethink our relationship with bacteria,” Turvey said.

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