BackgroundMicrobial deprivation early in life can potentially influence immune mediated disease development such as allergy. The aims of this study were to investigate the influence of parental allergy on the infant gut colonization and associations between infant gut microbiota and allergic disease at five years of age.Methods and FindingsFecal samples were collected from 58 infants, with allergic or non-allergic parents respectively, at one and two weeks as well as at one, two and twelve months of life. DNA was extracted from the fecal samples and Real time PCR, using species-specific primers, was used for detection of Bifidobacterium (B.) adolescentis, B. breve, B. bifidum, Clostridium (C.) difficile, a group of Lactobacilli (Lactobacillus (L.) casei, L. paracasei and L. rhamnosus) as well as Staphylococcus (S.) aureus. Infants with non-allergic parents were more frequently colonized by Lactobacilli compared to infants with allergic parents (p = 0.014). However, non-allergic five-year olds acquired Lactobacilli more frequently during their first weeks of life, than their allergic counterparts, irrespectively of parental allergy (p = 0.009, p = 0.028). Further the non-allergic children were colonized with Lactobacilli on more occasions during the first two months of life (p = 0.038). Also, significantly more non-allergic children were colonized with B. bifidum at one week of age than the children allergic at five years (p = 0.048).ConclusionIn this study we show that heredity for allergy has an impact on the gut microbiota in infants but also that early Lactobacilli (L. casei, L. paracasei, L. rhamnosus) colonization seems to decrease the risk for allergy at five years of age despite allergic heredity.

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Temporal and spatial trends of perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) were investigated in Baltic Sea herring liver (Clupea harengus) from three sites, and white-tailed sea eagle (WTSE) eggs (Haliaeetus albicilla) from two freshwater and two marine areas in Sweden. Trends of most quantifiable PFAAs increased over the monitored period (1980-2014 in herring, 1960s/1980s-2010 in WTSE). No significant decreasing trends were observed for the most recent ten years for any substances, except perfluorooctane sulfonamide (FOSA). Concentrations of perfluorooctanesulfonic acids (PFOS) in herring showed a distinct decreasing spatial trend moving from the more southern site toward the more northern site, indicating main input of PFOS into the southern Baltic Sea. For WTSE, PFOS concentration was higher in the marine compared to the freshwater environment, explained by the cumulative historic contamination of the Baltic Sea. Similarly, concentrations in WTSE were lower in the northern part of the Baltic Sea compared to further south. Concentrations of PFUnDA, representing long-chain perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs), showed a more homogeneous spatial distribution compared to PFOS for both herring and WTSE, indicating that atmospheric inputs (via precursors) of the long-chain PFCAs are important contributors in the study areas.