Damp House Linked to Kids’ Risk of Nasal Allergies

Children who live in damp, water-damaged homes may be more likely than other kids to develop nasal allergies, a study suggests.

Researchers found that of nearly 1,900 Finnish children they followed for six years, those who lived in homes with dampness or mold problems were more likely to develop allergic rhinitis during the study period.

Allergic rhinitis refers to symptoms of congestion, sneezing and runny nose caused by allergens such as pollen, dust, animal dander or mold.

In this study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, 16 percent of children whose parents reported dampness in the home went on to be diagnosed with allergic rhinitis over the next six years. That compared with just under 12 percent of children whose parents reported no dampness problems — that is, no visible signs of water damage to the ceilings, walls or floors, and no visible mold or mold odor in the home.

The researchers weighed a number of factors that might help account for the connection, including families’ socioeconomic status (asthma and allergies tend to be common in lower income children) and whether children were also exposed to second-hand smoke.

However, damp, moldy conditions in the home remained linked to an increased risk of children’s nasal allergies. Children whose parents reported any mold or water damage in the home at the outset were 55 percent more likely than other children to develop allergic rhinitis — connected to any allergen, and not just mold.

“Our study strengthens the evidence that exposure to indoor dampness increases the risk of developing allergic rhinitis,” lead researcher Dr. Jouni Jaakkola, of the Institute of Health Sciences in Oulu, Finland, told Reuters Health in an email.

Previous studies, he said, had measured children’s exposure to dampness and mold, and their rates of nasal allergies, all at one time — making it impossible to tell whether the exposure preceded the allergies’ development.

The fact that this study followed children’s rates of allergy development over time strengthens the case that household dampness is a risk factor for nasal allergies — though the findings alone do not prove cause-and-effect. It is still possible that there are other factors that explain the link.

However, Jaakkola said that based on other research, it is plausible that damp conditions in the house contribute to nasal allergies. Such conditions, he noted, encourage the growth of dust mites and fungi, and attract cockroaches — all of which can serve as allergy triggers. Moisture may also boost the emission of chemicals from building materials, according to Jaakkola, and those chemicals could potentially create inflammation in the airways.

The bottom line for parents, Jaakkola said, is that they would be wise to look out for signs of water damage at home.

“In general, we should try to avoid dampness problems in homes and repair (damage) as soon as the problems appear,” he noted, adding that parents of children who already have any form of allergy should be particularly careful to do so.

Meet the Critters Inside Your Mattress

CNN -
By Elizabeth Landau

It’s a wild, nasty world under the sheets. The mattress can be a jungle of dust mites and bedbugs, milling around among dried remnants of blood, saliva, sweat and basically all the other bodily fluids you can think of.

Bedbugs have become minor celebrities this week with a report from the National Pest Management Association showing that the problem is on the rise. Bedbug calls have gone up by 81 percent since 2000, the study said, and 67 percent of surveyed pest management companies have treated bedbug infestations in hotels or motels.These insects are about a quarter-inch long and eat at night, said Howard Russell, entomologist with diagnostic services at Michigan State University. Impressively, while humans can live only a matter of weeks without food, bedbugs can live up to one year without eating — and their meals consist of blood.

“They’re well-adapted to being a parasite,” Russell said. “It’s really hard to starve them out.”

Bedbugs, which leave behind itchy bite marks and can even lead to allergic reaction in some people, aren’t the only pests that could be lurking beneath your pillow.

About 10 percent of people are sensitive to house dust mites, said Dr. Clifford Bassett, an allergist in New York. They are even more of a problem for people with asthma.

As if the presence of microscopic eight-legged vermin weren’t gross enough, consider that it’s not the mites that cause some people to cough and sneeze. It’s their excrement.

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Chlorine in Pools Raises Kids’ Asthma, Allergy Risk

HealthDay News -
By Serena Gordon

Swimming in pools disinfected with chlorine may increase the odds that a child will develop asthma or allergies, research suggests.

The study found that teenagers who spent more than 1,000 hours swimming in chlorinated pools, either indoors or outdoors, had more than eight times the risk of having asthma than did teens who primarily swam in pools using a copper-silver disinfecting method.

“Chlorinated pool attendance has a very significant impact on the prevalence of allergic diseases in the studied population,” said lead author Alfred Bernard, a professor of toxicology and research director at Catholic University of Louvain in Brussels, Belgium.

“When used properly, [chlorine] is an efficient and safe disinfectant for swimming pools. However, when too much chlorine is added to water or builds up in the air of indoor pools, there is unavoidably some irritation of the organs of the bather in contact with the water and air,” he explained. “There is now increasing evidence that these irritating effects may be detrimental to the airways of regular swimmers, especially the children who are the most vulnerable and the most frequent attendees of chlorinated pools.”

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More information

Learn more about asthma triggers and controlling asthma from the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter

SOURCES: Alfred Bernard, Ph.D., professor, toxicology and research director, Catholic University of Louvain, Brussels, Belgium; Jennifer Appleyard, M.D., chief, allergy and immunology, St. John Hospital and Medical Center, Detroit; Sept. 14, 2009, Pediatrics online

Last Updated: Sept. 14, 2009

Copyright © 2009 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

Hidden Asthma Triggers

Prevention.com -
By Teri Walsh

A common pain reliever–or a glass of wine–could bring on an asthma attack, two studies suggest.

The first study looked at the effect of acetaminophen on 1,574 people, 664 of whom had asthma. (Acetaminophen is an active ingredient contained in Tylenol and other non-aspirin pain relievers.) Researchers found that the more acetaminophen that people with asthma took, the more often they woke up at night with symptoms and the worse their reported quality of life (Thorax, Apr 2000).

The reason: Acetaminophen may deplete an essential antioxidant in the lungs called glutathione, says lead study author Seif Shaheen, MD, PhD, researcher and senior lecturer at Guy’s, King’s and St. Thomas’ School of Medicine, King’s College, London.

The second study examined the effect of food and drink on 336 asthmatics. Researchers found that one-third believed that alcohol–especially red or white wine–made symptoms worse (The Jour. of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Mar 2000). Evidence suggests that sulfite preservatives, histamines, or salicylates may be responsible, rather than the alcohol itself, says lead study author Hassan Vally, research scientist at the Asthma and Allergy Research Institute, Inc., in Nedlands, Western Australia.

These commonsense steps could reduce your risk of another asthma attack:
Minimize
Asthmatics who take acetaminophen often (every day or several times weekly) should consider cutting back, says Dr. Shaheen. So should those who drink alcoholic beverages.

New Health Risk Found in Public Pools

LiveScience.com -
By LiveScience Staff

Public swimming pools are more dangerous than you might think, a new study suggests. When sweat and urine, among other organics, mix with the disinfectants in pool water, the result can be hazardous to health.

The findings, announced this week, link the application of disinfectants in recreational pools to genetic cell damage that has been shown to be linked with adverse health outcomes such as asthma and bladder cancer.

Pool water represents extreme cases of disinfection that differ from the disinfection of drinking water as pools are continuously exposed to disinfectants. But with so many people cooling off and exercising in pools and water parks (339 million visits across the United States each year), the disinfectants are a must to prevent outbreaks of infectious disease.

Chlorine and pee don’t mix

The problem occurs when the sanitizers mix with organic matter.

“All sources of water possess organic matter that comes from decaying leaves, microbes and other dead life forms,” said study researcher Michael Plewa, University of Illinois professor of genetics. “In addition to organic matter and disinfectants, pool waters contain sweat, hair, skin, urine [1 in 5 adults admits peeing in the pool] and consumer products such as cosmetics and sunscreens from swimmers.”

These consumer products are often nitrogen-rich, and when mixed with disinfectants, these products may become chemically modified and converted into more toxic agents.

Long-term exposure to these disinfection byproducts can mutate genes, induce birth defects, accelerate the aging process, cause respiratory ailments, and even induce cancer, according to the researchers. While the new study did not examine actual effects on humans, it suggests such research might be warranted.

Pool samples

In this study, researchers evaluated water samples from public pools and a control sample of tap water. They tested whether the byproduct chemicals in the samples could induce gene mutations using a so-called systematic mammalian cell genotoxicity analysis.

This sensitive DNA technology can detect genomic damage in mammalian cells, allowing researchers to investigate damage at the level of each nucleus within each cell.

Results proved that all disinfected pool samples had more genomic DNA damage than the source tap water, Plewa said.

The findings are published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. The work was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation.

Cleaner pools

All this doesn’t mean you need to ditch your pool plans. Plewa offers recommendations for pool operators and swimmers to reduce hazardous chemicals and make for safer pool water. 

“Care should be taken in selecting disinfectants to treat recreational pool water,” Plewa advised. “The data suggest that brominating agents should be avoided as disinfectants of recreational pool water. The best method to treat pool waters is a combination of UV treatment with chlorine as compared to chlorination alone.”

In addition, organic carbon should be removed prior to disinfection when the pool water is being recycled, Plewa said.

Swimmers can also help by showering before entering the water, which would mean fewer organics and so reduce the genotoxicity of the pool water. One recommendation that may seem obvious: Don’t pee in the pool. Plewa suggests pool owners remind patrons about the potential harm caused by urinating in a pool.

Is Your Laundry Making You Sick?

Prevention -
By Celeste Perron

How to minimize germs, allergies, and other surprising ways doing the wash can affect your health

1. Empty the washer ASAP
Why: Protect against germs
Bacteria flourish in wet areas, so take clothes out within 30 minutes of a completed cycle; if they sit for an hour, rewash the load. But wouldn’t just-laundered clothes be germ free, you wonder? Not necessarily, says Charles Gerba, PhD, professor of environmental microbiology at the University of Arizona. These days, many people are trying to save energy and money by washing with cold water, but harmful bacteria can easily survive in it, explains Gerba, whose research found that 25% of home washing machines contain fecal bacteria. Although the strains of E. coli found were fairly harmless, their presence alone indicates that bacteria and viruses can linger on laundry, he says.

Though Gerba recommends using hot water to kill germs, cold is better for energy bills—and the planet. To help protect your family, don’t overload the washer, so detergent can penetrate all the fabric; and wash your hands after removing wet clothes so you don’t spread lingering germs. The dryer’s heat will kill most of the remaining bugs.

2. Wash undies alone
Why: Protect against germs
Not surprisingly, the primary source of fecal bacteria in a washer is underwear. It’s best to do underwear in a separate cycle, with hot water and regular or color-safe bleach, suggests Gerba. And once a week, run an empty cycle with only a cup of bleach. “That prevents bacteria from hanging out in the drum,” he adds.

3. Wash bedding in hot water
Why: Reduce allergens
Unsavory as it sounds, your sheets and pillowcases house legions of dust mites that dine on the skin cells you shed at night. Dust mites are the most common cause of year-round allergy symptoms. They live in clothes and carpeting, but their highest concentrations are in beds. To alleviate symptoms, it’s most important to wash your bedding weekly in hot water (set at a minimum of 130°F), says Robert Weitz, a microbiologist in Stamford, CT. “If you wash with cold or warm, you’re just giving them a nice swim,” he says. “And the dryer alone isn’t hot enough to kill them.”

4. Air out your washer
Why: Reduce allergens
Mold spores are always present in the air to some degree, but when they find a wet surface (say, the inside of a washer), they can settle in and multiply. Exposure to mold can cause congestion, itchy eyes, and wheezing; if you’re asthmatic or allergic, they can trigger an attack. To prevent mold from growing in your machine and then transferring to your clothes, when you finish your laundry, prop the door open to air it out and dry off any. Be extra diligent with front loaders—they use rubber gaskets to seal the water inside, and mold often grows on it, says Weitz. Another tip: “Buy HE, or high efficiency, detergent,” he adds. “It makes less suds than regular kinds, leaving behind less moisture.”

5. Ventilate the laundry room
Why: Reduce allergens
Moist heat from the dryer can keep humidity levels high, which creates ripe conditions for mold to grow. Leave a window open or turn on a fan when the dryer is running, and check dryer hoses. “If the vent to the outside comes loose, moisture can get trapped in the wall, and mold can grow,” says Weitz.

6. Choose unscented soaps
Why: Prevent irritated skin
You may love clothes that smell like flowers or fresh rain, but it takes a cocktail of chemicals to deliver that scent—chemicals that can irritate your skin, or worse. Researchers at the University of Washington analyzed a popular detergent and found that it emitted13 volatile organic compounds (VOCs), five of which are regulated as toxic or hazardous by the EPA. “Often, laundry products can contain hazardous chemicals such as neurotoxins and carcinogens,” says study author Anne Steinemann, PhD, professor of civil and environmental engineering and public affairs at the university. “Exposure to them can cause migraine headaches and asthma attacks.”

The kicker: Many of these chemicals aren’t related to the detergent’s cleansing agents but instead to the fragrances they’re scented with. It’s best to choose ones free of perfumes and dyes. “Unscented may mean a masking agent was used to cover up the detergent aroma, but harmful agents can remain,” says Steinemann. And according to her latest, yet-to-be published research, laundry detergents with natural or organic scents can be just as toxic as the regular ones.

7. Skip dryer sheets
Why: Prevent irritated skin
They emit chemicals also regulated as toxic and can cause breathing difficulties and irritated skin, says Steinemann; liquid fabric softeners can have the same effect. Instead of dryer sheets, try PVC-free plastic dryer balls—they help more air pass between clothes to cut down on static cling. As a softener, add 1/2 cup of baking soda to the rinse cycle of your wash.

9 Things That Make Allergies Worse

Prevention -
by Liz Vaccariello

Are Your Allergies Awful?
If you’re a seasonal allergy sufferer (60 million of Americans are), you probably already have a few tricks to avoid triggers, like not running outside when pollen counts are sky-high or keeping the windows closed and blasting the AC. But you may not know about these less obvious factors that can make symptoms worse.

1. Stressful work deadlines
In a 2008 experiment, researchers at Ohio State University College of Medicine found that allergy sufferers had more symptoms after they took an anxiety-inducing test, compared with when they performed a task that did not make them tense. Stress hormones may stimulate the production of IgE, blood proteins that cause allergic reactions, says study author Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, PhD. If you’re under stress, get enough sleep. A sleep deficit can worsen both allergy symptoms and stress, she says.

2. An extra glass of wine with dinner
Alcohol can raise the risk of perennial allergic rhinitis by 3% for every additional alcoholic beverage consumed each week, Danish researchers found. One potential reason: Bacteria and yeast in the alcohol produce histamines, chemicals that cause telltale allergy symptoms like stuffy nose and itchy eyes. Avoid alcohol when your symptoms are acting up, says Richard F. Lockey, MD, director of the division of allergy and immunology at the University of South Florida College of Medicine.

3. Waiting too long to take meds
Medications that block histamines work best before you’re even exposed to allergens, says allergist James Sublett, MD, a spokesperson for the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. Start medication a couple of weeks before the season commences or before you’ll be around allergens (if you react to grass, before a golf game, for example).

4. A not-hot-enough washing machine
If you find yourself sniffling in bed, crank your washing machine to the hottest setting. In a South Korean study, laundering cotton sheets at 140°F killed 100% of dust mites, while a warm 104°F wash destroyed just 6.5%. A machine’s “sanitize” setting is likely hot enough; check the manual if your model lacks this option. Some units heat water internally, but others use what flows through the pipes, so you may need to boost your water heater. (Caution: This temp can scald in 5 seconds.)

5. Houseplants that make you sneeze
Your innocent orchid could bring tears to your eyes. More than 75% of hay fever sufferers are allergic to at least one common houseplant, found a Belgian study. Allergens in plant sap can diffuse into the air and set off your sniffling. Though any potted greens can be trouble, researchers found that ficus, yucca, ivy, palm, orchid, and fern varieties are most irritating to allergy-prone people.

6. Skipping medication in the evening
One time not to forget your allergy med? Before bed—so the medication will be circulating in your bloodstream early the next day. Symptoms such as sneezing, weepy eyes, and runny nose peak in the morning, says Richard J. Martin, MD, chair of the department of medicine at National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver. Choose regular (instead of nondrowsy formulas) for extra help falling asleep promptly.

7. Water workouts in an indoor pool
Chlorine-filled lap lanes can wreak havoc on your system. Used to disinfect, chlorine is highly irritating to the skin, eyes, and respiratory tract, says Prevention advisor Andrew Weil, MD. And a recent study in the journal Pediatrics found that teens who log more than 100 hours in a chlorinated pool have a 3 to 7 times higher risk of developing hay fever, compared with swimmers who dunk in chlorine-free pools. To reap the benefits of your water workout without wheezing and sneezing, consider wearing a mask or goggles when swimming to protect your eyes from chlorine’s temporarily irritating effects. Try to swim in outdoor pools, where the gas is more readily dispersed, instead of indoor ones, and avoid swimming in chlorinated pools daily.

8. Friends who smoke
Cigarettes—with their numerous toxic chemicals and irritants—are nasty for everyone, but allergy sufferers may be especially sensitive, according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. In fact, one Japanese study of teenage students found that more than 80% of those who came from homes where family members smoked heavily showed signs of nasal allergies. Even if you don’t hang around smoky bars or other areas, particles on the clothing of smoking friends or coworkers can pollute the air in your home or office.

9. Showering in the AM only
Hay fever sufferers would benefit from a quick rinse as soon as they get home from work or after being outside for a while, says allergist Stanley Fineman, MD, a physician at the Atlanta Allergy and Asthma Clinic. That’s because hidden pollen particles can get trapped on your body, hair, clothes, and shoes—continuing to trigger symptoms after you’ve returned indoors. If you’re prone to pollen allergies, slip off your shoes, throw your clothes in the hamper, and shower as soon as you get home to avoid dragging particles all over your home.

Protect Your Home and Family From Dangerous Mold and Mildew

ThisOldHouse.com -
By: Daniel P. Simmons III

With more than 100,000 species worldwide, roughly a thousand of which are native to the United States, molds are literally everywhere on the planet, including Antarctica. In nature, these fungi serve as a catalyst—speeding decomposition and ridding the planet of megatons of dead plant matter. And some varieties even have a time-honored place within our homes. After all, you owe the penicillin in your medicine cabinet to a mold called Penicillium chrysogenum, part of the same genus as Penicillium roqueforti, the mold you can thank for that delightful Roquefort cheese stinking up your fridge.

But no good can come from uninvited mold (aka mildew) indoors, since these microscopic organisms make their living by consuming the surface they’re growing upon. It’s bad enough when their food source is a little soap scum in your shower, but when it’s the cellulose in wallboards or ceiling tiles, or worse yet, in the wooden studs that support them, the resulting property damage can be significant. Even more serious are the potential health effects for your home’s occupants.

Read the entire article here!

Parental Stress Increases Kids’ Risk of Asthma

Alcohol Worsens Allergies

New York Times -
By ANAHAD O’CONNOR

THE FACTS

Sniffling, sneezing and struggling through allergy season this year?

You may want to lay off alcohol for a while. Studies have found that alcohol can cause or worsen the common symptoms of asthma and hay fever, like sneezing, itching, headaches and coughing.

But the problem is not always the alcohol itself. Beer, wine and liquor contain histamine, produced by yeast and bacteria during the fermentation process. Histamine, of course, is the chemical that sets off allergy symptoms. Wine and beer also contain sulfites, another group of compounds known to provoke asthma and other allergy-like symptoms.

In one study in Sweden in 2005, scientists looked at thousands of people and found that compared with the general population, those with diagnoses of asthma, bronchitis and hay fever were far more likely to experience sneezing, a runny nose and ”lower-airway symptoms” after having a drink. Red wine and white wine were the most frequent triggers, and women, for unknown reasons, were about twice as likely to be affected as men.

Another study of thousands of women published in the journal Clinical and Experimental Allergy in 2008 found that having more than two glasses of wine a day almost doubles the risk of allergy symptoms, even among women who were free of seasonal and perennial allergies at the start of the study.

It helps to be on the lookout for other foods that either contain or release histamine, like aged cheeses, pickled or fermented products and yeast-containing foods, like bread, cider and grapes.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Drinking alcohol can cause or worsen allergies, particularly in women.

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