Cohabitating with a dog can increase the diversity of bacteria in house dust. When mice ate this bacteria-rich dust, it shifted the microbes in their guts towards species that prevented their immune systems from overreacting to airborne allergens. The team also showed that a single bacterial species could duplicate many of these benefits.
When they supplemented their rodents’ diet with Lactobacillus johnsonii alone, they saw much the same effects as feeding them dog dust: a restructured gut microbiome, less inflammation, and a weaker immune response to allergens. Supplementing the mouse diets with this lone species even prevented the rodents from overreacting to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)—a common virus that infects the lower airways of many human infants and increases the risk of asthma.
http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/38660/title/Dogs–Dust-Microbes–and-Allergies/
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