The Wisconsin Infant Study Cohort (WISC) project examines how farm environments, especially those with livestock, stimulate children’s immune systems and make them less likely to develop allergic diseases. The study began in 2013 comparing immune responses in cord blood from healthy babies born into farming environments and those born into non-farming environments.
Katherine Barnes, program manager with the National Farm Medicine Center, shares more about the study and their findings.
For eight years, starting in the womb, researchers will track the children’s exposure to farm animals and farm-related microbes. They measure the development of cells involved in immunity and resistance to viral respiratory illnesses and also track respiratory infections and development of allergies.
“We use all this information to understand how their immune system is interacting with the environment,” explains Barnes. “Specifically how the farm environment is impacting the development of their immune system.”
The research has shown that young kids on farms will get sick from colds or flus at similar rates to those who didn’t grow up on farms, however, it seems their immune systems learn how to adapt and respond to a greater variety of microbes. Due to this response, as those farm kids get older, they tend to get sick less often and don’t experience allergies as often as kids who didn’t grow up on farms.
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