Dogs not only protect your home, they can protect your health as well. Young children turn out to be less likely to suffer a bout of gastroenteritis if there is a pet in the house.
Jane Heyworth at the University of Western Australia in Crawley and her colleagues observed nearly a thousand 4 to 6-year-old children in South Australia for six weeks, noting incidences of nausea, diarrhoea and vomiting. Children who had a cat or dog in their household were 30 per cent less likely to show these symptoms than children living in homes without pets (Epidemiology and Infection, vol 134, p 926).
This came as a surprise. 鈥淚t is a commonly held view that dogs and cats are a source of gastroenteritis, but our results do not support that,鈥� Heyworth says. She suggests that children living with pets are exposed to low levels of bacteria when young, and that this could prime their immune systems to handle such bugs.
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A previous study showed that children living with at least two animals were up to 77 per cent less likely to develop allergies (New 杏吧原创, 7 September 2002, p 24). There is also some evidence that pet owners may be less likely to suffer from heart disease and depression.
This doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean parents should rush out and buy a pet. 鈥淭he benefits need to be weighed against the drawbacks,鈥� Heyworth warns. 鈥淎fter all, dogs can bite.鈥�
