April 2006
Asthma Prevention Trial

Up to 40 per cent of Australian children suffer from allergies and asthma and it is the single most common reason for children to be admitted to hospital. The Division has launched a world first research trial into a treatment that could prevent asthma in high risk children. The treatment, developed by Professors Pat Holt and Peter Sly involves exposing babies and toddlers to tiny doses of common allergens as an oral vaccine to stimulate immune responses which protect against allergy. The children will be given daily drops under the tongue of house dust mite, grass and cat allergen over a 12 month period. They will then be monitored closely for three years. The project is being funded by the US National Institutes of Health. The international research trial will initially involve 200 children in Perth, Melbourne and New York. Later stages will expand to Germany and Sweden.