Researchers at the University of Wisconsin have teamed with the National Farm Medicine Center at Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation to examine how farm environments, especially those with livestock, stimulate stronger immune systems and make children far less likely to develop allergic diseases.
The study is part of the five-year Wisconsin Infant Study Cohort (WISC) project. It is being funded by the National Institutes of Health and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the University of Wisconsin Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, and the Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center (UMASH) at the University of Minnesota.
“If we can identify the key microbial exposures on farms, then we would want to offer it to non-farm kids,” said Casper Bendixsen, Ph.D., NFMC principal investigator for WISC. Listen to his comments on Dairy Radio Now, sponsored by the Professional Dairy Producers.
