Asthma and Immunizations

Noel Peterson, ND

Dr. Trudi Kemp and her colleagues of the Wellington Asthma Research Group, Wellington School of Medicine in New Zealand, may have found one reason for the dramatic rise in Asthma worldwide. They looked at 1265 children born in 1977, followed them for 10 years, and found that of the children who had been immunized as infants, 23% had asthma episodes, 21% had asthma consultations, and 30% had consultations for other allergic diseases. Less than 2% of non-immunized children had episodes or consultations for either asthma or other allergic diseases. Asthma currently affects almost 15 million people in the United States and the increasing incidence is a worldwide public health dilemma. Source: Kemp, Trudi, et al., "Is Infant Immunization a Risk Factor for Childhood Asthma or Allergy?" Epidemiology, 1997; 8(6): 678-680.