Researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) have found that children born during the pandemic are more likely to have atopic diseases like eczema, and over-sanitisation was one of the reasons for this.

They analysed data from 1,152 children born in Hong Kong, including 155 children born before the pandemic and 997 pandemic babies.

They observed that there was a 46 percent increase in the incidence of allergy for pandemic babies.

The research team said excessive cleaning could hinder babies in their ability to develop healthy gut bacteria, which is crucial for children in building a strong immune system.

Gut dysbiosis would increase the chance of children of getting skin diseases like eczama.

One of the researchers, Professor Siew Ng, said lacking resistance genes, children may not have the immunity to combat different types of bacteria or bugs in the future.

“This is becoming more and more common after the Covid-19 pandemic. We found there’s a 46 percent increase. I think part of the reason is because we are basically disinfecting too much. The hygiene measures are basically too stringent,” Ng said.

“I think the tips we would give parents is to reduce or maybe to alleviate some of these atopic diseases is -- I think number one, is that it's important to be hygienic, but I think we shouldn't be over aggressive in our behaviour,” she added.

CUHK says it has also developed two new oral probiotics, named SIM03 and SIM05, for children and adults with eczema respectively.

Their pilot studies found that after taking these probiotics for three months, their eczema symptoms were relieved and their sleep quality improved.

Asked when the probiotics would be available for sale, Ng said the university would like to do a larger study on the use of the two probiotics in different population groups first.