Families With Many Children More Likely to Get Sick: Study

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Do you feel like your family often gets sick? Are you a member of a big family? If you answer yes to both questions, then you are not alone. A new study suggests that the more children are in a household, the higher the chances of a viral infection to spread.

According to KSL, a study from the University of Utah has discovered that viruses are common in families, and children below five years old are more than likely to get sick 50 percent of the time in a year.

Furthermore, Dr. Carrie Byington, professor of pediatrics and lead author of the study, said that in the 26 Utah families that she and her team has been observing and tracking, results have shown that families with no children tested positive after three or four weeks, families with one child have tested positive for about 18 weeks in a year, and big families with six kids have tested positive for about 45 weeks in a year, making an 87 percent chance of getting sick annually.

The study has used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and has been able to check 16 common viruses that cause respiratory illnesses, which include rhinoviruses, coronaviruses, bocaviruses, influenza and metapneumovirus to name a few. Through the development of new tests, the "black hole" of medicine can now be studied further, NCB News reports.

Out of all the viruses, rhinovirus seem to be the most common as it has been detected in one sample per week, while bocaviruses attribute to about three months in action and often is the culprit in making kids' noses runny.

Most importantly, the results have been able to lead researchers in identifying how coronoviruses can cause unidentified infections and severe viruses like SARS and MERS.

The study, according to UPI, which has been termed "The Better Identification of Germs-Longitudinal Viral Epidemiology" or BIG LoVE, has followed 108 individuals belonging to about 26 families for a year, observing their weekly symptoms, taking nasal swabs and generally analyzing how they get sick.

Dr. Byington said the study has helped them understand why young children in big families are prone to getting sick, and if their diseases should be a trigger of alarm and concern for the experts. She also said experts can take into consideration how often and how long the viruses will manifest in the bodies of family members, as these signs can be important in treating patients.

The research has been published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.