News Tonight Africa

We can detect whether the baby is at risk of developing asthma or not by tracing the bacteria present inside the gut. Not having enough ‘good’ intestinal bacteria in the gut of babies increases the risk of developing asthma. Presence of different varieties of bacteria in the gut shapes the immune system in a way that it can cause numerous diseases.

Dr. Stuart Turvey, a pediatric immunologist at the University of British Columbia and BC Children's Hospital, said that we can prevent future diseases in babies by following gut test. From past few decades, large increase in asthma patients have been seen which is expected the affect 300 million people across the world including 10% of U.S. children.

Asthma is common cause of hospitalization in children and could become life-threatening at any age if attacks get severe. In the study, researchers from the University of British Columbia analyzed the stool samples of 319 children from birth to age 3 in order to check their gut bacteria. Researchers found that the children with lower levels of these four bacterial groups at three months old ended up having higher rates of asthma by the time they were 1 year old.

These four bacterial groups have been named as Faecalibacterium, Lachnospira, Veillonella and Rothia. B. Brett Finlay, Prof. at University of British Columbia microbiology, said “There's this really early dance in the gut”. There is still lot of research needed to prove the bacterial role and that timing theory.