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Scientists say they may have found a sort of magic ingredient to prevent asthma in children: microbes from farm animals, carried into the home in dust. The results of their research, published on Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine, were so convincing that they raised the possibility of developing a spray to do the same thing for children who do not have regular contact with cows and horses. (Kolata, 8/4)

The old-fashioned ways of the Amish are helping researchers make new discoveries about the origins of asthma. By studying the blood, genes and environmental dust of 30 Amish children from traditional farming families in Indiana, scientists were able to zero in on the innate immune system as a key player in thwarting asthma and the allergic reactions that can trigger it. Their findings appear in Thursday’s edition of the New England Journal of Medicine. (Kaplan, 8/3)

In trying to explain America’s rising rates of allergies and asthma, one of the common theories is that we’re just too clean. ... In a study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, Carole Ober, a geneticist at the University of Chicago, and her colleagues conclude that dust from the farm fields might protect Amish children from asthma and allergies, while shelter from this exposure might leave Hutterite children vulnerable. (Wessel, 8/3)