Virginia scientists say children exposed to cat dander can develop an immune response to the allergen without having breathing symptoms.
Cats are an enigma to asthma researchers.
Yet several studies have shown that people who live with cats are often less sensitive to the animals and less likely to suffer bouts of asthma. And while some 30 percent of American children are prime candidates for cat allergies, only about 10 percent wind up with them. Why that's true hasn't been clear until now. The children filled out questionnaires about the allergens they were exposed to at home and underwent blood and skin tests to measure their reactions to a variety of irritants. Although contact with cats was a predictor of asthma, children exposed to high levels of dust mites were up to four times as likely to suffer breathing attacks, the researchers found.