December 22, 2025
When a child struggles to breathe, the fear is immediate and for families living with asthma, it can become all too familiar.
For years, asthma was something families learned to manage but couldn’t hope to prevent. Now, research led by Dr. Stuart Turvey at BC Children’s Hospital and UBC is changing that narrative. His team has uncovered a critical window in early life when the right microbes in a baby’s gut can help protect against asthma. In the national CHILD Cohort Study, they found that infants missing four key bacteria from their microbiome—Faecalibacterium, Lachnospira, Veillonella and Rothia (FLVR)—were far more likely to develop asthma. When these bacteria were reintroduced in lab models, asthma symptoms faded.
Their findings go beyond the lab. Between 2000 and 2019 in BC, the use of antibiotics for infants decreased by 77% and the number of childhood asthma diagnoses dropped by 41% during the same period. The connection is clear: fewer antibiotics mean a healthier microbiome and fewer kids developing asthma.
This work, supported in part by Genome BC as part of a national effort to explore how genomics and the microbiome can drive more effective, preventative care for children, is shifting how we think about prevention. Sometimes, protecting a child’s future starts with something as simple as protecting the bacteria in their gut.
This article appears in Genome BC’s 2024/25 Annual Report. View the whole report here.
