Stomach infection may help prevent asthma

WASHINGTON One of the biggest causes of ulcers and stomach cancer might also have potential to help people, according to a study published in the journal Clinical Infections Diseases.

The researchers who conducted the study said Tuesday that Helicobacter pylori bacteria, which have recently been shown to cause the stomach illnesses, could prevent asthma in children.

The study examined data on 7,000 children from the National Health and Nutrition Survey and found that children aged 3 to 13 were 59 percent less likely to develop asthma if they had H. pylori, which infected 5.4 percent of children born in the 1990s.