Animal shed Bacillus licheniformis spores possess allergy-protective as well as inflammatory properties.

Background: Numerous epidemiologic studies have demonstrated an allergy-protective effect of farm life early in childhood. It has been hypothesized that environmental exposure to microbes may contribute to this effect. Because of their small size and thereby their potential for deposition in lower airways of small children, bacterial spores may be candidates for such allergy-protective effects.

Occurrence of Listeria spp. in mattress dust of farm children in Bavaria.

Several epidemiological studies have shown that the farm environment impacts allergy protection mechanisms in children. These associations are not well understood, but it is thought that contact to microorganisms may mediate this effect. For example, heat-inactivated Listeria (L.

Application of PCR-SSCP for molecular epidemiological studies on the exposure of farm children to bacteria in environmental dust.

The environmental exposure of farm children to microorganisms in dust has become a focus of interest, since microbial exposure on farms has been related to a reduced prevalence of asthma and atopic diseases in children. Previous studies almost exclusively focused on the determination of microbial counts using conventional culturing or the determination of microbial compounds i.e.