Keeping a Cat After Adulthood May Increase Allergy Risks.
A large European study found that people who get a cat for the first time as adults have twice the risk of allergies as the average person, especially when cats are allowed into the bedroom; but if they have already had a cat as a child, the risk of cat allergies as adults will be lower.
Mario Olivieri, a professor at the University of Verona in Italy, collected data and blood allergy tests from a nine-year asthma study. The subjects were aged 9 to 20 and had never had any symptoms.Allergic to cats; 6292 subjects were tested again 9 years later.
Of these subjects, more than 10% later kept pets, and nearly 4% became allergic to cats, especially allowing cats into the bedroom, which also contributed to the allergy.
However, if people who have had cats as children grow up, their risk of developing cat allergies will be lower than those who get cats for the first time as adults. "Although they are all exposed to high concentrations of allergens (cats), the effects seem to change with age," Olivieri said.
Letting children have cats may prevent them from developing cat allergies, but parents should be careful about whether they will allergy.
