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It’s been known that asthmatic lungs are different from healthy lungs in many aspects, including housing different strains of bacteria.  So far, studies haven’t been able to tell whether these differences are due to asthma, associated allergies (atopy), or treatment with different drugs.  They also haven’t been able to determine how these differences affect the way asthma manifests itself and how asthma can be treated.  In this month’s issue of JACI, Durack and colleagues aim to answer these pressing questions ( J Allergy Clin Immunol 2017; 140(1): 63-75 ). Durack and other investigators looked at the bacterial communities in 84 individuals, split into three groups: (1) 42 atopic asthmatic subjects, (2) 21 atopic non-asthmatic subjects, and (3) 21 non-atopic non-asthmatic, otherwise healthy, subjects.  They also looked at inflammatory markers and changes in bronchial hyperresponsiveness after 6 weeks of treatment with fluticasone, an inhaled steroid commonly used for...

Allergies and asthma are growing public health problems, as rates have continued to increase over the past 50 years.  In that same time period, there has been a dramatic movement of people away from farms into cities and towns.  Previous studies have suggested that these may be related and data do exist to show childhood farm animal exposures and consumption of unpasteurized milk reduces the risk of childhood asthma and allergies.  But what about early-life farm exposures and adult asthma and allergic sensitization?  In this month’s issue of JACI, House and colleagues studied more than 3000 farmers and their spouses to help answer this question ( J Allergy Clin Immunol 2017; 140(1): 249-256 ). Specifically, they looked at 1746 farmers and 1555 spouses from Iowa and North Carolina enrolled in the Agricultural Lung Health Study.  They used questionnaires to identify current asthma and early-life farming exposure, and then measured blood levels of allergen-specific...