Come on, folks.  Don't let my letter be the only one these investigators
receive.  You can read an abstract of the study at the following url:
http://www.nejm.org/public/1997/0336/0019/1356/1.htm

Check it out and get those fingers flying over the keys!  :-)


To: David L. Rosenstreich, MD
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Dept. of Medicine
1300 Morris Park Avenue
Belfer Building, Room 1008
Bronx, NY 10461

Dear Dr. Rosenstreich:

Your recent article, which linked the presence of cockroach infestations in
the home and childhood asthma, should prove an interesting starting-point
for persons interested in reducing the incidence and severity of asthma in
the United States.

My question relates to information you may have obtained in carrying out
this multi-center study.  Were any inquiries directed to infant
experiences, including infant feeding?  It is well known that:
a) women in inner city locations are least likely to initiate breastfeeding;
b) women in inner city locations are least likely to breastfeeding more
than a few weeks if they do begin breastfeeding; and,
c) antibodies to elements in the family environment are notably absent in
infants who are not breastfed.

Any discussion of the factors contributing to increases in such chronic
illnesses as asthma must take into consideration how the infant was fed.
To ignore this issue ignores one well-known means by which some children
are spared the effects of such conditions.  The past 30 years have seen
dramatic changes in the incidence and duration of breastfeeding with both
increases and declines in the rate of initiation and its duration (whether
considering exclusive breastfeeding, or any breastfeeding).

I look forward to learning more about the multi-center study and whether
you and your colleagues included data-gathering instruments that sought to
identify possible precursors to asthma in your studies.

                                                                Sincerely,


                                                                Kathleen G.
Auerbach, PhD, IBCLC
                                                                The Parent
Center
                                                                Ferndale,
WA 98248  USA

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"We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly
disguised as impossible situations."
Kathleen G. Auerbach,PhD, IBCLC (Ferndale, WA USA) [log in to unmask]
WEB PAGE: http://www.telcomplus.com/~kga/lactation.html
LACTNET archives http://library.ummed.edu/lsv/archives/lactnet.html