Pulmonary Epithelial Barrier and Immunological Functions at Birth and in Early Life - Key Determinants of the Development of Asthma
The investigators want to know why some babies wheeze and some of these go on to develop asthma. The investigators are going to find out if babies who develop wheeze and asthma have abnormal airway lining cells (taken from the nose) when they are born and what happens to these cells as they get older. The study will last three years. Parents will be asked to fill in a monthly health questionnaire. The tests on the babies are all in routine clinical use: a urine sample, a blood test from a heel or finger prick, swabs from the nose and throat to look at the microbiome, and a brushing of cells from the inside of the nose. These tests will be performed at 5-10 days old, and at one and three years. Parents will be asked to fill in online monthly health questionnaire. Some babies will have the swabs repeated at 3 and 6 months, and those who wheeze in the first 3 years of life, samples during the illness and after recovery.
• expectant mother or infant aged 0-10 days
• children with recurrent wheezing and other clinical atopy
• children with recurrent wheezing and no obvious wheezing triggered by aeroallergens and no clinical evidence of other atopy.
• children with no history of wheezing but with at least one clinically apparent atopic disorder
• children with no history of wheezing and with no clinical evidence of other atopic disorder
• all children will be undergoing an elective surgical procedure
• all children will have been born at term (37-42 weeks gestation)
• the anaesthetist will have deemed the child fit for elective surgery, free from a recent respiratory tract infection, stable and suitable for the research study samples to be taken.
• in the case of blind non-bronchoscopic sample suitable for endotracheal intubation or for a fibre-optic bronchoscopy if this is the chosen method of sampling