Children whose mothers are exposed to farm animals and cats are better protected against developing the most common types of eczema in their first two years of life, the results of a new study indicate.

Atopic eczema, sometimes referred to as atopic dermatitis, is a chronic and often painful inflammation of the skin. It results in an itchy, scaly, weepy red rash and is very widespread in the Irish population, particularly among children. In fact, around 20% of Irish children develop the condition, with two in three developing it before the age of six months.

Atopic eczema is an allergic condition and previous studies have suggested that allergies are less common in children who grow up on farms and whose mothers lived on farms during pregnancy.

Exposure to farm animals and bacteria frequently found in farms, as well as drinking milk from the dairy, offer the immune system protection. However, proof of this protective effect in connection with atopic eczema has remained elusive.

Swiss researchers set out to examine how prenatal environmental factors and genetic mechanisms influence the development of atopic eczema during the first two years of life. They examined children in rural areas of five European countries - Austria, Finland, France, Germany and Switzerland. Of the 1,063 children taking part in the study, 508 were from families that lived on farms, while 555 were not farm children.

The study found that women who spend their pregnancy in the proximity of farm animals and cats have children with a reduced risk of developing atopic eczema in their first two years of life.

The researchers from the University of Zurich also identified two genes in these children that are of vital importance to the body's immunity and were able to link the expression of these genes to a lower likelihood of a clinical diagnosis of an allergic condition.

The findings of the study are not only significant in the face of the frequency of the disease and the suffering it causes, they also support the theory that gene-environment interaction with the developing immune system influences the development of atopic eczema in young children.

Details of these findings are published in the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology.

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