Early childhood is a critical period where the maturation of the immune system occurs while it receives various challenges from the environment shared with the mother. Children growing in an... Show moreEarly childhood is a critical period where the maturation of the immune system occurs while it receives various challenges from the environment shared with the mother. Children growing in an environment rich in micro-organisms and parasites are thought to have a different pattern of immune response compared to those children growing in a more hygienic environment. This difference might contribute to the lower prevalence of allergic and autoimmune disorders in developing countries compared to affluent countries. Within this context, a number of cohort studies mostly performed in developed countries have focused on finding the link between the pattern of immune responses in early life and health outcomes in later life. In this thesis, we studied child__s innate and adaptive responses during the first 4 years of life in a helminth-endemic area in Indonesia Show less
Djuardi, Y.; Supali, T.; Wibowo, H.; Kruize, Y.C.M.; Versteeg, S.A.; Ree, R. van; ... ; Yazdanbakhsh, M. 2013