Bacteria's role in asthma

摘要

It's not just microbes in the gut that shape our susceptibility to allergies. Bacteria in the lungs, once thought to be a sterile environment, might also play a role. A study by Hans Bisgaard at the University of Copenhagen found that infants who had harmful bacteria in their lungs soon after birth were more likely to develop asthma than babies that didn't have those strains. And in 2011, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, led by Homer Boushey, reported that the lungs of asthmatic adults contained far more bacteria than the lungs of people without asthma. Furthermore, individuals with more severe cases of asthma had a greater diversity of bacteria than patients with less acute disease.