Wohl receives NIH grant to study correlation between Eczema and antibiotic use

Assistant Professor of Biology Debra Wohl in collaboration with Dr. William Curry of Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center—was awarded a $197,000 grant by the National Institutes of Health to study the possible correlation between atopic dermatitis in young children and intravenous antibiotics received by their mothers during delivery.

Atopic dermatitis is a chronic, relapsing, inflammatory skin disease, which is commonly referred to as eczema. Medical studies—although they point to a combination of hereditary and environmental factors—have failed to identify an underlying cause for the disease.

The Elizabethtown-Hershey Medical Center research team hopes to determine whether the current practice of using antibiotics during the birthing process may be contributing to the rise in prevalence of the skin disease. In recent years, both the incidence of atopic dermatitis and the use of antibiotics are becoming increasingly more prevalent. Exposure to antibiotics, even for a short time, during delivery disrupts the microbial colonization of a newborn’s gut flora, which are microorganisms that live in the digestive tract and perform a number of useful functions for their hosts that can influence the development of the immune system.

Over the course of the three-year study, the researchers will collect and analyze data on health care practices, specifically on the administration of intrapartum antibiotics and the health of the children during their first two years of life. In addition to looking for a correlation between antibiotic use and the development of the skin disease, this study also will be used to generate additional questions about the role early exposure to antibiotics plays on the development of the immune system of newborns.

Elizabethtown College students—including senior Kaitlyn Wieland (shown seated), a biology major with pre-medicine concentration, and junior Stephanie Dougherty (shown standing), a biology major with an allied health concentration—will support Assistant Professor of Biology Debra Wohl (shown far left) with her work on the National Institutes of Health sponsored study, titled “Do Intravenous Antibiotics Administered during Delivery Affect the Development of Infantile Atopic Dermatitis.”