As developed countries have banished disease-causing and innocuous microbes and parasites, they may have opened the door for asthma, allergies, and other immune disorders.

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Braun-Fahrländer, C.H., et al. 1999. Prevalence of hay fever and allergic sensitization in farmer’s children and their peers living in the same rural community. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Allergy 29(January):28.

Farooqi, I.S., and J.M. Hopkin. 1998. Early childhood infection and atopic disorder. Thorax 53(November):927.

Krämer, U., et al. 1999. Age of entry to day nursery and allergy in later childhood. Lancet 353(Feb. 6).

Raloff, J. 1997. Asthma epidemic: A link to moving . . . Science News 151(Jan. 25):60.

______. 1997. . . . or childhood vaccinations? Science News 151(Jan. 25):60.

Seppa, N. 1997. The dark side of immunizations? Science News 152(Nov. 22):332.

Shirakawa, T. . . . and J.M. Hopkin. 1997. The inverse association between tuberculin responses and atopic disorder. Science 275(Jan. 3):77.

Travis, J. 1998. Don’t reject me, fetus tells Mom. Science News 154(Sept. 5):152.

______. 1997. Microbial trigger for autoimmunity? Science News 151(June 21):380.

Richard Beasley
University of Otago
Wellington School of Medicine
Department of Medicine
P.O. Box 7343
Wellington, New Zealand

Irun Cohen
Weizmann Institute of Science
Department of Immunology
P.O. Box 26
Rehovot 76100
Israel

John R. David
Harvard School of Public Health
Department of Medicine
Building 1, Room 811
665 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115

Stephen Holgate
University of Southampton
Department of Medicine
Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ
United Kingdom

Julian M. Hopkin
University of Wales Swansea
Experimental Medicine Unit
Swansea SH2 8PP
United Kingdom

Shaden Kamhawi
National Institutes of Health
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Building 4, Room 126
4 Center Drive
Bethesda, MD 20892

Michael B. Oldstone
Scripps Research Institute
Department of Neuropharmacology
10550 North Torrey Pines Road
La Jolla, CA 92037

Graham A.W. Rook
University College London Medical School
Department of Bacteriology
Windeyer Institute
46 Cleveland Street
London W1P 6DB
United Kingdom

David L. Sacks
National Institutes of Health
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Building 4, Room 126
4 Center Drive
Bethesda, MD 20892

Joel V. Weinstock
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics
Department of Internal Medicine
200 Hawkins, Room 4607 JCP
Iowa City, IA 52242

From Science News, Vol. 156, No. 7, August 14, 1999, p. 108. Copyright © 1999, Science Service.