"Cleanliness next to godliness" in asthma? The increasing prevalence of asthma may or may not be explained by improved hygiene and fewer infections, depending upon the evidence examined, say researchers. Two articles in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine offer evidence for and against the cleanliness hypothesis as an explanation for the rise in allergic diseases and asthma. Dr Erika von Mutius from the University Children's Hospital in Munich, Germany, said the increased beta blockers and asthma benefits of exercise for asthma prevalence could be ascribed to cleanliness. Sibship size has been shown to be a strong determinant of atopic conditions in children, adolescents and adults, with those from large families offered some protection against atopy. This protection is said to be due to repeated early childhood infections transmitted by contact with older siblings and infected peers at school preventing the development of atopic immune responses. Family size has decreased over more recent decades in affluent countries, where asthma prevalence has meanwhile increased. benefits of exercise for asthma benefits of exercise for asthma "Because family and sibship size have dramatically decreased, the relevant protective exposures have become less," said Dr von Mutius. However, Dr von Mutius said there might also be a maternal influence on the temporal trend in asthma prevalence. "If, in fact, the intrauterine environment must first be shifted toward an atopic phenotype to give rise to offspring with asthma, then environmental factors influencing the temporal rise in asthma prevalence must be sought in the maternal generation preceding that of the affected herbal interventions in asthma and allergy benefits of exercise for asthma individuals," she said. In contrast, US researchers at the University of Virginia argue that cleanliness is not to blame for the rise in asthma. Dr Judith Woodfolk and colleagues said it was important to consider when major changes in public health occurred. Citing New York as an example, eradication of malaria, chlorinated water supplies, minimal contact with farm animals and the cure of major infectious diseases all occurred before 1946. However, the rise in asthma did not begin until the 1960s. information on asthma relievers benefits of exercise for asthma "Given that the major
